08:21 pm, Friday 24 September, 2010

A construction company has been fined close to $20,000 by the SA Industrial Court yesterday over a worksite fire in 2008.

Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie heard a worker was cutting metal in a construction site in South Australia in March 2008 when sparks set the dry grass in the premises ablaze.

It then developed into a landscape fire, engulfing a brush fence and a neighbouring home.

Magistrate Ardlie said a man was sleeping inside the house during the conflagration.

“Fortunately that resident was alerted to the fire by the workmen on the site and avoided injury,” he said.

“Nevertheless, he was put at risk.”

He said the work site had fire extinguishers, but they were locked up.

The company was fined $18,750 after admitting breaching workplace safety regulations.

Magistrate Ardlie noted that it had already given away $40,000 to the home owner, nearby property owners and a building contractor by way of compensation.

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know