Firm to donate works as way of apology

A DARWIN construction company will donate concrete works and an awning to the Darwin Surf Life Saving Club to make amends for allegedly exposing its staff to asbestos

Worksafe shut down a building site down the road cos of asbestos concerns.

A DARWIN construction company will donate concrete works and an awning to the Darwin Surf Life Saving Club to make amends for allegedly exposing its staff to asbestos.

NT WorkSafe yesterday announced it wouldn’t prosecute Kalidonis Pty Ltd over a 2014 incident that saw it shut down a work site where employees, renovating the company’s offices at McMinn St, were seemingly unaware they could have been handling asbestos.

Rather than taking the company to court NT WorkSafe agreed to a set of conditions (an enforceable undertaking) that will cost the company $77,000.

Stipulations of the undertaking include the engagement of an independent Workplace Health and Safety consultant to develop and audit safety systems, the donation of concreting works and awning to the Darwin Surf Life Saving Club, ongoing proactive consultation with workers and others to discuss WHS obligations in the construction industry and the translation of safety information into Greek to be distributed for use within the construction industry.

In a statement to the NT News the company’s director Theo Kalidonis said he accepted the business had made an error but it had done everything possible to rectify it.

“(We) have worked with WHS to implement internal improvements to (our) WHS procedures, the workers will benefit from this and the community also benefits from this,” Mr Kalidonis said.

NT WorkSafe executive director Stephen Gelding said he believed the undertaking delivered “maximum benefit for employees, industry and the wider community”.

“The WHS undertaking offers a similar deterrent to a successful legal proceeding and will result in a tangible improvement to safety in their workplace and the wider construction industry as well as benefits to the Darwin community,” Mr Gelding said.

Asbestos can cause deadly disease, including several forms of cancer.