East Perth's Concerto Apartments construction site had received five safety complaints against it before a German worker fell 13 stories to her death on Monday, it has been revealed.
The 38-storey Finbar and Hanssen development on Adelaide Terrace began construction in late 2015, and was due to be completed mid-2017.
More News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:52
German woman dies after falling 13 storeys
- Video duration
- 01:17
The other benefits to dog walking
- Video duration
- 00:44
Truckie eating noodles on the freeway
- Video duration
- 02:59
State government presents vision for Roe 8
- Video duration
- 00:59
Kids playing netball on driveway too loud
- Video duration
- 00:11
Car allegedly speeds through crash site
- Video duration
- 00:25
Paramedic flown to hospital after ambulance crash
German woman dies after falling 13 storeys
The family of a German worker are on their way to Perth this morning after she was killed in a construction site accident in the city. Vision: Nine News Perth
Marianka Heumann, an unskilled labourer, was finishing her shift on the 15th floor and had removed her harness when she noticed a bit of ceiling she had forgotten to seal, and turned back.
That split-second decision proved fatal after the 27-year-old lost her balance and fell 13 stories to the second floor as horrified colleagues watched on helplessly.
Since the incident, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has been quick to criticise safety at the non-union site. Â
Safety watchdog Worksafe confirmed it had received five complaints about the site since construction commenced and had issued two improvement notices to the builders, one for "edge protection" another for "excessive debris".
A Worksafe spokeswoman said three of the complaints were made by members of the public looking out their windows or walking past the site, and two were made by CFMEU.
"All three public complaints were about activity that had already taken place and could not be investigated because they were no longer taking place," she said.
Of the list of safety concerns raised by CFMEU on two separate occasions, most were resolved once the builder was notified.
Work will recommence at the site on Wednesday, with Hanssen managing director Gerry Hanssen saying employees would be offered counselling.
He dismissed allegations from people familiar with the site that there was a safety culture issue.
"We pay particular attention to all safety matters," Mr Hanssen said.
"That morning, we had a pre-start meeting where the foreman reminded everyone to wear their harnesses.
"The saddest thing of this is, [Ms Heumann], she did 15 floors impeccably, with a safety harness no problems.
"She was at the end of the day and she took it off and must have looked around and seen she had left a bit undone... and tried to finish it off without the harness."
Mr Hanssen also scoffed at suggestions by the CFMEU that 90 per cent of people employed on the site were foreign workers.Â
"That is absolutely not true," he said.Â
Worksafe and police are investigating the incident.
In 2008, Hanssen Construction was fined $174,000 by the Federal Magistrates Court in Perth for exploiting foreign workers.
The court found the company was guilty of 21 breaches of the Workplace Relations Act in relation to Australian Workplace Agreements.
Ms Heumann's death comes less than a year afer two Irish workers were fatally crushed while working at another apartment construction site in East Perth.Â
A woman working just metres from Ms Heumann on Monday said the image of her body lying on the second floor after falling down a shaft had left her shocked and heartbroken.
"I can't take the image off my mind," she said.
"Many people saw her lying there.
"I just started to cry and all the people were going crazy."
She said Ms Heumann had already taken off her harness when she went back to finish a last strip of silicon in the airshaft "which only takes like two minutes"
"I was like working four metres from her. I saw her working with a harness [before]. But when the guys close that hole, they take all the stuff off," she said.
"So they were gonna close there and she forgot the last strip."
"I know because I talked with the guy that saw her fall."
Her co-worker told WAtoday that Ms Heumann was staying in Perth on a working holiday visa, saying "many times we worked without protection, but from the last week my supervisor was like crazy all the time saying 'use the harness, don't work here until you have an anchor point'."
Ms Heumann was rushed to hospital as a "priority one" patient but later pronounced dead a short time later.
The young woman started her work and travel holiday in Sydney in November 2015 before moving to Perth in June this year.
She was in the process of applying for a second year working holiday visa, her co-worker said.
- with Fran Rimrod and Brendan Foster