The mother of an apprentice tradesman who was crushed to death at a building site has paid tribute to her ‘guardian angel’ in a moving Facebook post.
Christopher Cassaniti, 18, died at Macquarie Park in north-west Sydney on Monday when a 15metre tower of scaffolding collapsed on top of him.
His mother Patrizia, who served coffee at a mobile truck down the road, was on the site within minutes after the disaster and was told her son was trapped.
Late on Tuesday night she posted a photo with her ‘beautiful boy’ on Facebook.
She captioned it: ‘My Guardian Angel… sooo much pain.’
The mother of an apprentice tradesman who was crushed to death at a building site has paid tribute to her ‘guardian angel’ in a moving Facebook post. She captioned the above photo: ‘My Guardian Angel .. sooo much pain.’
Patrizia Cassaniti (pictured with her husband at the scene) runs a coffee and food truck near the construction site where her son Christopher was killed
Happy family: Christopher Cassaniti (centre) celebrated his milestone birthday with proud parents Patrizia and Rob
It comes as speculation mounts as to what caused the collapse which also hospilatised a 39-year-old trademsan.
Union bosses believe that human error was the most likely cause.
CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan hinted that the scaffolding was either not put up properly or overloaded.
He told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: ‘When scaffolding is used and erected correctly according to specifications, properly maintained and the ties are left in, and it’s loaded only in accordance with the safe working loads that are appropriate to its design, then it doesn’t fall down.
‘Somewhere in that chain, something has gone wrong.’
Police and SafeWork NSW are investigating.
Last year the safety watchdog issued 100 notices for breaches of scaffold safety rules amid fears developers were riding roughshod over regulations in order to meet tight deadlines during Sydney’s building boom.
During visits to 1,000 construction sites in the year to November 2018, regulators issued $265,000 worth of fines for various safety breaches.
Tragic: Christopher Cassaniti, 18, died in the collapse at Macquarie Park, north-west Sydney on Monday. He is pictured on holiday in Hawaii
Harrowing: This is the harrowing moment tradesmen frantically tried to save two of their friends trapped under a mountain of collapsed scaffolding at a construction site
The firm which erected the scaffolding at Macquaire Park, Synergy Scaffolding Services, said safety of workers is paramount.
‘We adhere to all safety regulations, ensure all staff are suitably qualified and undergo specific training and inductions,’ it said in a statement.
On Tuesday harrowing video emerged from the scene showing frantic tradesmen trying to save their two trapped colleagues.
Blood-curdling screams echoed around the building site as tradesmen in hard hats and high-vis jackets rushed to free the men.
They were desperate to help but police held them back, fearing that dislodging just one piece of steel would cause tonnes of twisted metal and concrete to collapse further and crush the men to death.
‘You’re wasting time. We need access,’ a tradesman can be heard shrieking in mobile phone footage which showed a policewoman ushering the workers back.
Amid the screaming and shouting a policeman said into a megaphone: ‘Oi everybody, we need you guys to help us,’ before he lowered the device because his radio interfered.
Amid the carnage a policeman (right) took a megaphone and said: ‘Oi everybody, we need you guys to help us,’ before he lowered the device because his radio interfered
Frantic: Workers desperately tried to free their colleagues for 20 minutes until the wailing stopped and they were ordered to move away
A policeman (pictured) approached the agitated men and said: ‘If you move one piece the whole thing may collapse. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.’
‘We are helping,’ one tradesman shouted as another yelled: ‘You’ve got a whole army here – we’re ready.’
Another policeman approached the agitated men and said: ‘If we move the wrong piece more will collapse. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.’
‘Give us instructions then, let’s do something,’ a tradesman replied.
‘Come on let’s start,’ one yelled.
The policeman explained: ‘If you move anything, boom, collapse…’
At that point an unknown man screamed: ‘My brother’s down there.’
The policeman continued: ‘Listen, listen. Let the ambos stabilise it and as soon as they say ready we’ll get it.’
Mr Cassaniti, 18, died in the collapse at Macquarie Park, becoming the fifth person to die at a construction site in Australia this year.
His 39-year-old colleague was pulled from the debris and raced to hospital in critical condition where he has now stabilised.