Inquest into the Death of Shaun McBRIDE
Deceased
Shaun McBRIDE
Demographics
28y, male
Date of death
2011-06-04
Finding date
2017-05-30
Cause of death
drowning
AI-generated summary
A 28-year-old scaffolder died by drowning after falling from a cantilevered scaffold under a loading jetty while dismantling it. The scaffold collapsed when he inadvertently struck the brace wedge instead of the transom wedge during dismantling—the correct wedge could not be seen from his position. His fall arrest system was not attached to the correct load-bearing rosette on the standard, so it did not arrest his fall. The 12 kg of tools and safety equipment he wore caused rapid descent to the 15.7 m deep seabed. Clinical lessons: strict compliance with 100% hook-on procedures to correct attachment points is critical; workers over water that are weighed down with safety gear should wear personal flotation devices as an additional layer of protection; high-risk technical procedures require clear procedures, training, supervision, and risk assessment; design features that increase hazard (unsighted hammer strikes at close wedge spacing) should be addressed through engineering controls.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- inadvertent striking of brace wedge instead of transom wedge during scaffold dismantling
- failure to attach fall arrest system to correct load-bearing rosette on standard
- collapse of cantilevered scaffold ledger under deceased's weight after brace wedge was removed
- deceased wearing approximately 12 kg of tools and safety equipment with negative buoyancy
- inability to see target wedge clearly when striking with hammer from beneath scaffold
- close spacing of transom and brace wedges increasing risk of striking wrong wedge
- water depth (15.7 metres) and poor visibility preventing rescue attempts
- deceased not wearing personal flotation device
Coroner's recommendations
- Recommendation to committees responsible for Australian Standards AS/NZS 1891.4:2009 (Industrial fall-arrest systems and devices, committee SF-015) and AS/NZS 4576:1995 (Guidelines for Scaffolding, committee BD-36) to consider amendments to ensure that people working over or adjacent to water or liquid who may be at risk of falling into water and drowning wear an approved personal flotation device (PFD)
Further listening
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