Heavy fine for building company over tragic death of 12-year-old boy Joshua Field who fell to his death watched by his brother and cousins at Maddington, Perth

A construction company has been fined after a 12-year-boy managed to access a building site before falling to his death.

Joshua Field, 12, climbed into the roof area of a building and was killed after he fell and was struck by a falling beam in May 2022.

He had accessed a construction site in Maddington in Perth’s south-east through an open gate with his brother and cousins who then witnessed his fall.

His family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support after he was rushed to the Perth Children’s Hospital, 7News reported at the time.

PTG Construction was responsible for the site and had been building five single-storey residential units near high-density housing where families with young children lived.

The firm pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure a workplace they were in control of was secured from unauthorised access.

The company was fined $18,000 and ordered to pay $1,500 in costs this week in the Armadale Magistrates Court.

At the time Joshua’s sister, Charnte Turner, said her family had lost a ‘beautiful soul’.

Joshua’s sister, Charnte Turner, remembered ‘Joshy’ as a ‘hero’ after his life support was cut

‘My 12 year old brother, Joshy, was injured after playing on a construction site,’ she wrote on a GoFundMe page appealing for support.

‘Shortly after getting rushed to hospital and fighting for his life, he sadly didn’t make it.’

Charnte described her brother as a ‘hero’ for donating his heart, lungs and his kidneys to save others.

In a separate incident, Merym Pty Ltd trading as EMCO Building, was found guilty of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace after a subcontractor became trapped under a concrete staircase that collapsed on him.

In April 2019, bricklayers employed by Swinging Bricklayers had removed steel props that were supporting the staircase to construct a load bearing wall under the recently formed concrete stairs.

Merym was fined $450,000 for causing serious harm and $35,000 in court costs in the Perth Magistrates Court.

Merym Pty Ltd was fined $450,000 for a worker injured by a collapsing concrete staircase

Swinging Bricklayers were also fined $600,000 and ordered to pay $5,000 in costs in February 2023. 

WorkSafe commissioner Sally North said a wide range of safety risks could be present on construction sites and the two cases illustrated the point.

‘In the case against Merym Pty Ltd, the company was the principal contractor and it changed the stairs from a pre-cast staircase that was assembled off-site then installed on pre-built load bearing brick walls to a staircase that was moulded and poured on-site with the brick walls built underneath when the formwork was removed,’ she said.

‘The bricklayers had little or no experience of working with this type of staircase and were not warned to avoid removing the props because they were holding up the stairs.

‘The job was lacking in risk assessment, communication and instruction, and both companies involved in the incident have now been held to account.’

Ms North said the case against PTG Construction and Development illustrated the importance of site security in protecting the public from the hazards of a construction site.

‘In this case security gates were present, but they were frequently left open after hours when the site was left unattended because PTG did not have a system in place to ensure the gate was closed and locked when the site was unattended,’ she said.

‘WA’s workplace health and safety laws require that the person in control of a construction site must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace is secured from unauthorised access.’