A RESERVOIR bricklaying company has been fined $100,000 for overloading scaffolding more than double the safe limit.

EGI Bricklaying pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace and to ensure the public was not exposed to health and safety risks at a hotel construction site on Commercial Rd, Prahran.

Northcote Leader - 13 November

The company was fined $100,000 and ordered to pay an additional $4000 in costs at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week.

The court heard the company put workers and members of the public at serious risk after it overloaded scaffolding with bricks.

When WorkSafe investigators visited the site on February 27, 2009, it found the scaffolding had more than 6000 bricks stacked on 14 bays, more than double the safe working limit for each bay.

The investigation also found the bricks were not evenly distributed across the platform, employees were not properly trained in unloading and stacking bricks and there was no supervisor at the site to ensure the job was done correctly.

WorkSafe construction and utilities director Allan Beacom said overloading platforms on a scaffold was a “significant and serious breach”.