Safework SA said that Allstar Asbestos Services Pty Ltd was penalised by the SA Employment Tribunal last Friday.

Allstar was charged under the Work Health and Safety Act after its worker, 58, died from a brain injury after falling through the roof of a house verandah onto a concrete slab in March 2021.

Safework SA said the man was working on a crawl board placed over asbestos roof sheeting on top of timber rafters, when a rafter snapped and he fell 2.5 metres.

The company had done a site inspection and determined to use a crawl board due to concerns over the condition of some verandah rafters, with an Acrow prop, a wooden bearer and timber prop positioned under a fascia beam but not under the rafter that failed.

The investigation also found that Allstar had identified the use of a harness but one was not provided to the worker.

SA Employment Tribunal Judge Rossi convicted Allstar and imposed a fine of $500,000 but reduced it $300,000 following a 40 per cent discount for an early guilty plea.

The fine was further reduced to $150,000 after taking into account Allstar’s inability to pay the full amount due to its limited financial position.

“The danger associated with working on the asbestos sheeting to the veranda with the minimal propping provided by Allstar was obvious,” Rossi said.

“At the same time, no fall arrest system was implemented even though the need for one was identified by Allstar prior to the incident.

“There has been no satisfactory explanation as to how the contravention was allowed to occur in this case, where the risk of falling from a height and measures to address the risk were identified by Allstar prior to the incident and yet were not satisfactorily addressed.”

Allstar was also ordered to produce an educational video outlining the fatal incident.