Four charged over scaffold deaths

In the state’s worst building fatality for decades, Chris Gear and Steve Sayer fell 26 levels to the ground, while carrying out concrete patchwork on the Pegasus building, then under construction.
The men cried for help, while more than 100 building workers and passing pedestrians watched in horror as one side of the swing scaffold slumped and the men slid to that side before the whole structure collapsed and fell.
Other identical swinging stages were working across the high rise site at the time. The men were on the eastern seafront side.
The following companies and person have been charged with various breaches of the Workplace Health and Safety Act, set down for mention at the end of June in the Southport Industrial Magistrates Court.
Allscaff Systems Pty Ltd which erected the swing stage is charged with failing to ensure the plant was erected in a way that ensured it was safe when used properly.
Ralph Michael Smith, director of Allscaff Systems Pty Ltd, is charged with failing to ensure the company complied with its obligations under the Act.
Karimbla Construction Services Pty Ltd which built the high rise, is charged with breaching obligations as a person in control of a workplace and as project manager.
Pryme Constructions Pty Ltd which undertook the concrete patching is charged with breaching it obligations to ensure workplace health and safety.
The Gear family will hold a traditional memorial service for Chris Gear to mark the anniversary of the accident, where a stone is unveiled to ensure that the person has not been forgotten by the extended families.