Heavy fine for construction company following tragic death of 12-year-old boy Joshua Field, who fell to his death in front of his brother and cousins ​​in Maddington, Perth

A construction company was fined after a 12-year-old boy managed to get onto a construction site before falling and dying.

Joshua Field, 12, climbed to the roof of a building in May 2022 and died when he fell and was hit by a falling beam.

He had entered a construction site in Maddington, southeast of Perth, with his brother and cousins ​​through an open gate and then allowed them to witness his fall.

His family had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off life support after he was admitted to Perth Children's Hospital, 7News reported at the time.

PTG Construction was responsible for the site and constructed five single-story housing units near densely populated residential areas where families with young children lived.

The company pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to ensure that a workplace under its control was protected from unauthorized access.

The Armadale District Court this week fined the company $18,000 and ordered it to pay legal costs of $1,500.

At the time, Joshua's sister, Charnte Turner, said their family had lost a “beautiful soul.”

Joshua's sister, Charnte Turner, remembered “Joshy” as a “hero” after his life support was withdrawn

“My 12-year-old brother Joshy was injured while playing at a construction site,” she wrote on a GoFundMe page asking for support.

“Shortly after he was admitted to the hospital and fought for his life, unfortunately he did not make it.”

Charnte called her brother a “hero” because he donated his heart, lungs and kidneys to save others’ lives.

In another 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 fell on him.

In April 2019, bricklayers from Swinging Bricklayers removed the staircase's steel supports to build a load-bearing wall beneath the recently formed concrete stairs.

Merym was sentenced by the Perth Magistrates Court to a fine of $450,000 for grievous bodily harm and to pay $35,000 in court costs.

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

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

WorkSafe officer Sally North said there could be a variety of safety risks on construction sites and the two cases highlighted this.

“In the case against Merym Pty Ltd, the company was the main contractor and it replaced the staircase with a prefabricated staircase that was assembled off-site and then installed on prefabricated load-bearing brick walls, for a staircase that was formed and poured on site, with the brick walls erected underneath after the formwork was removed,” she said.

“The masons had little to no experience working on this type of staircase and were not advised not to remove the supports as they supported the staircase.”

“There was a lack of risk assessment, communication and training at work and both companies involved in the incident have now been held accountable.”

Ms North said the case against PTG Construction and Development demonstrated how important site safety was in protecting the public from the dangers of a construction site.

“In this case, security gates were in place, but they were frequently left open after hours when the premises were unattended because PTG had not installed a system to ensure the gate was closed and locked when the premises were unattended,” she said.

“WA's Health and Safety at Work laws require that the person responsible for managing a construction site must, as far as practicable, ensure that the workplace is protected from unauthorised access.”