Cullen Group case: Aluminium planks missing when Rohan Sills plunged 3m

A court has been told aluminium planks placed over a stairwell void were missing when an apprentice carpenter plunged 3m onto concrete at a Robina construction site.

Wayne Cullen outside Southport Court. Picture: Tim Marsden.

ALUMINIUM planks placed over a stairwell void were in place the day before an apprentice carpenter plunged 3m onto concrete at a Robina construction site, a court was told.

But the planks were missing when Rohan Sills fell down the hole while working on the second floor of a townhouse at the City Village site on October 20, 2016.

Cullen Group Australia – which has since collapsed – was the principal contractor.

Director Wayne Cullen faced Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday for the second day of a trial, fighting an allegation he did not comply with workplace health and safety duties.

Mr Cullen was not working on site at the time of Mr Sills’ fall, which left the former Sharp Construction tradesman in a wheelchair with permanent paraplegia.

Rohan Sills (left) was left a paraplegic after the accident. Picture: AAP

Called as a prosecution witness, former Cullen Group workplace health and safety supervisor John Close defended the company’s safety practices.

He told the court Workplace Health and Safety were made aware several days before the accident that the planks were being used a temporary safety measure, while awaiting “void protection” equipment to be installed.

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He said the “planks were in the day before” the fall, but “someone took them out”.

“I saw them the day before,” he said.

Mr Close told Office of Industrial Relations senior legal officer Kylee-Rachel Fellows he worked with senior staff to communicate to workers across the site that the planks were in place temporarily.

When asked by defence barrister Sarah Cartledge about Mr Cullen’s day-to-day involvement in safety processes on site, Mr Close replied “that’s why he employed us”.

Earlier, witness James Anderson, who had been working on site as a carpenter for NPN Contracting, told the court that “half were (covered), half weren’t” – referring to stairwell voids across the site.

However, he said Workplace Health and Safety were aware of the temporary void coverings “and did not deem the job site unsafe”.

Mr Anderson said workers on site were “just wanting to get the job done”, and that “people weren’t getting paid” and “were owed a lot of money” before Cullen Group went into liquidation months later.

The trial is due to finish this afternoon.