A woman whose husband died when he fell more than six metres from the second floor of a residential construction site has told a Canberra court how his sudden loss had impacted her life.
Construction company Better Building Holdings was on Thursday fined $450,000 in the ACT Industrial Court for failing to comply with health and safety directions after 60-year-old Thomas Magi died on a worksite in Denman Prospect in February 2020.
The court heard the company failed to implement adequate safety protections on the site.
In handing down her sentence, Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said the company had not protected its workers.
"It is surprising that a well-regarded, experienced building company, however small, managed to operate for 23 years with no proper safety measures in place," she said.
Magistrate Walker said the risks on the site should have been "entirely obvious" to anyone working in the industry, and there were basic measures available to implement to save lives.
"The situation was the end of a litany of egregious breaches of duty."
Call for judges to 'put workers' lives front and centre'
Mr Magi's wife, Yidi Zhou, gave a heartfelt statement in court as to how her husband's sudden death had affected her.
"I thought if I overwork and die, then I don't have to worry anymore and I'd join my husband," she said through tears.
She said prior to the incident she was studying and working, but she now suffered mental health issues and headaches, which impacted her ability to focus.
Ms Zhou said her parents had also had to move into her home to help her care for her 11-year-old without her husband.
"It has affected the friendship I have with my parents because in the Chinese culture my father said, I should be strong, so I try not to cry in front of my son or my parents," she said.
"My son has difficultly expressing his emotions because of autism. I worry about the psychological impact in the future.
Branch secretary at the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) ACT, Zachary Smith, called on the ACT government to implement guidelines to be given to judges who hear cases about work safety.
"We've said for a period of time now that the ACT government needs to take leadership on this issue, they need to issue judicial guidelines to the judges who are hearing these cases which put workers' lives front and centre.
"While the courts continue to issue inadequate penalties or slaps on the wrist, we're not putting the value on workers' lives. We're not putting the value on adherence to the law and keeping workers safe in the workplace."
