A construction worker has sustained “significant injuries” after a brick wall collapsed on top of him at a building site in Sydney’s east. Emergency services were called to Gilgandra Road in North Bondi about 8:00am after neighbours reported hearing an “explosion” sound and came outside to see the worker covered in bricks and blood.
The worker, aged in his 20s, was taken to St Vincent’s hospital with head, chest and shoulder injuries. Other workers at the site were visibly shaken by the incident and did not comment.
“When I ran out, the workers were pulling bricks off the guy,” neighbour Art Kaluza said.
Neighbours say that six weeks ago another wall from the same construction site collapsed into their property, knocking down a bedroom and sunroom wall, almost hitting their eight-year-old son who was playing nearby.
“How is this possible? Six weeks ago we had police here, we had someone from SafeWork,” Mr Kaluza said. “The site was closed. It was re-approved. Six weeks later this is happening again.”
Mr Kaluza said he dismissed the last incident as an accident, but on Monday he was “extremely upset”. “This morning my son said, ‘I want to get the toys out of my room’,” said Mr Kaluza.
SafeWork NSW is investigating the incident. The cause of the collapse is unknown.
“The previous incident at the Bondi site has no relationship to the current matter and it remains under active investigation,” a SafeWork NSW spokesperson said.
NSW Ambulance’s Inspector Kay Armstrong said the man suffered “quite significant injuries”. “Emergency services and bystanders did a great job to free the man and safely secure the scene so that paramedics could assess and treat the patient,” Inspector Armstrong said.
“Unfortunately he suffered quite significant injuries to his head, chest and shoulder from the falling bricks. Our crews stabilised the man before he was taken by road to St Vincent’s hospital in a serious condition.”
The construction company, Scopeview Projects, declined to comment on the incident.
Last Thursday, an exterior wall of a bungalow on nearby Curlewis Street tumbled into an adjacent construction site in an event neighbours said sounded like an “explosion”. The 84-year-old owner of the home and her son-in-law were inside the house when it fell apart but were not injured.
An investigation has been launched into what caused the collapse.
Source: ABC News
