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Scaffolding collapse in Melbourne leaves five injured

2nd March 2020

Melbourne saw a devastating scaffold collapse in early February as large sections collapsed whilst work was being carried out on an apartment complex.

Scaffold collapse in Melbourne leaves five injured
Image Credit: 7NEWS Australia

Witnesses stated that there appeared to be lots of people hurt at the site, with some scaffolding falling on a car at the site, as well as on top of workers. Two ambulances, the fire brigade and the police attending the scene.

Five workers at the site were taken to the hospital with serious injuries following the incident, but their condition was not thought to be life threatening.

Australian health and safety body, WorkSafe, were notified of the incident and an investigation is expected to take place to determine the cause of the collapse.

The past few years has seen a number of large-scale scaffolding incidents in Australia, with a young apprentice tragically killed at a site in Sydney last year, and most recently thirty school children were injured when a temporary scaffolding structure fell whilst students were stood on it, at a school in Sydney.

Investigations into scaffolding practices found that nearly half of construction sites in New South Wales did not comply with regulations, leading to the entire industry being put on notice. Find out more about this here.

Here in the UK, our safety standards are widely regarded to be the highest in the world. Scaffolding Incident rates within the UK have improved dramatically over the past few decades, and Simian are proud to be a part of improving standards across the country. If you want to ensure high standards for your scaffolding safety, contact the team at Simian today to find out more about our training, consultancy and inspection