Man injured after fall

A BERWICK man suffered serious head injuries after he fell at a building site in Princes Avenue, Springvale.
About 9.30am on Friday, the 18-year-old apprentice fell 2.5 metres down a void at the site, where stairs were to be built.
He was taken to The Alfred hospital with head injuries and is in a stable condition.
The same day, WorkSafe issued three prohibition not-ices at the three-unit development, which require barriers to be built in each unit so that people cannot fall.
WorkSafe’s executive director John Merritt said the man could have died or suffered untreatable, permanent injuries.
“Today’s incident could easily have been the 29th workplace death this year,” he said on Friday. “It could have been the fourth this week and the third involving a young man under 25. Lives and human bodies are fragile. The incident that you walk away from can easily kill.”
Mr Merrit said the construction industry particularly, had to pay greater attention to safety and return to basic principles.
He also said fall protection is required in every Victorian workplace where there is a risk of a fall of more than two metres.
“These are known dangers with known solutions and despite significant progress in the industry, we still find shortcomings,” he said.
Last week’s incident occurred two days before a major WorkSafe pre-Christmas campaign urging Victorians to remember the real reason for applying good workplace safety standards.
“Victoria is in its most risky time of the year,” Mr Merritt said.
“There is a bottleneck of activity with many businesses winding down for a well-deserved break and others leading into their peak seasons.”
Mr Merrit said every year, the November to February period has the most fatalities.
Since 2000, 106 people have died at work in this period from a total of 275 deaths.