Fines doubled on appeal after falls through open voids on a townhouse job

WorkSafe Victoria has reported that three construction companies have had their fines doubled on appeal over fall risks on a townhouse site in Footscray, Melbourne.

In April 2024 an apprentice carpenter fell 3.24 metres through a skylight void to the ground floor. Two months later an inspector found two workers six metres up on a second level with inadequate fall protection. The court heard there were unprotected live edges, skylight voids and stair voids on the first level, and that guard railing and void covers were reasonably practicable.

The companies were first fined without conviction in May. On 23 September the County Court set those sentences aside, convicted all three and lifted the fines to a combined A$100,200.

WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said: "Falls from heights remains one of the most common causes of serious injury and death in Victorian workplaces."

This is an Australian case, but the site will look familiar to any NZ builder doing medium-density work. Multi-storey units, several trades on the go, holes in the floor for stairs and skylights, and an upper level that stays half-finished for weeks. Here the protection went in after someone fell, not before.

That's the pattern worth breaking. On the hierarchy of controls, stopping a person reaching the edge or the void sits above anything that deals with a fall once it has started, and well above a sign and "watch your step". Every control has its place. Our thinking is on the Why it works page, and the regulatory material is on Working at height.

A court lifting the penalties on appeal is also a reminder that these cases are being taken seriously.

The takeaway: as each upper floor goes down, mark every void and open edge on the plan, and decide who covers it, with what, and when. Then check it's done before the first apprentice walks across.

Source: WorkSafe Victoria, "Construction companies' fines double on appeal" (1 October 2026), https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2026-10/construction-companies-fines-double-appeal