as posted here
Tree man Richard Pennicuik will come down from his tree, but not today.
He said this morning it was his "intent to come down" but he now needed to work out "the best course of action" for how to do it.
Mr Pennicuik said he was up until 4am with friends and family discussing what to do.
"What we're looking to do is we're looking to get down and we're going to pursue it in the right direction to get down and that's going to take us a little while," he said.
"I'm not going to come down when people tell me.
"I'm going to come down when I want, I'm going to come down on my terms.
"I can't come down looking like an idiot."
Mr Pennicuik said yesterday that he needed "time" to think and talk to his friends and family after receiving legal advice that he should come down from a tree he has called home for three months.
Following a brief telephone conversation just after noon with his lawyer John Hammond, who called him from a neighbour's house, Mr Pennicuik looked down at the gathered media pack yesterday to declare he was staying put.
But this morning he said: "It's my every intent to come down."
"Whether it happens or not is another thing but that is my intent."
Mr Hammond advised his client to come down after he received a letter from the City of Gosnells warning Mr Pennicuik could be fined $5000 fine and $500 for every subsequent day he stayed up.
Mr Pennicuik said this morning discussions last night focused on a track "that was completely wrong" but he would not say what that was. He said it was later ruled out.
Early yesterday speculation was growing that Mr Pennicuik would end his now 94-day protest.
But following the conversation with Mr Hammond, Mr Pennicuik said he did not want the council to make an example of him if he came down.
He said he was prepared to go to jail - a possibility if he failed to pay any fines - over his environmental crusade. He said he was also told his house could be seized.
Mr Pennicuik admitted he could not afford the cost of the fines, but insisted: "I can stay up here for the next 20 years."
He said the council had reneged on a three-month moratorium to take no action.
But the council has said Mr Pennicuik shifted the goal posts when he made new demands for other trees to be spared and a barrier to be erected around the tree outside his house.
The council has maintained the eucalyptus melliodora has a history of being dangerous.
Gosnells mayor Olwen Searle said yesterday she was disappointed Mr Pennicuik had not taken his lawyer's advice.
She said the council intended to visit him and ask him formally to come down, though she would not say when or give a timeframe for cutting down the tree.
Any prosecution would be determined in the courts.
"All the council has ever endeavoured to do is to get Richard to come out of the tree and talk to us and we have given him every opportunity," she said.
Mr Hammond said it was up to Mr Pennicuik whether to heed his advice.
"He is facing prosecution by the City of Gosnells, so Richard needs to make a call on that," he said.
"If Richard wants to remain in the tree he can but there's going to be legal consequences in doing that."
Mr Pennicuik was already forced to remove a tree house in January and had an application to the Heritage Council rejected.
as posted here
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Fines over edge protection prompt falls warning
as posted here
Construction company Morago Nominees (trading as Gavin Constructions) was fined $4000 and the subcontract bricklaying company Airdas (trading as Tyrone Bricklaying) was fined $2000 in the Armadale Magistrates Court in Western Australia for failing to provide edge protection on a building site.
In 2008, two WorkSafe inspectors visited a site where a community centre was being built for the City of Gosnells and found that there were several areas on the first floor of the building that did not have the required edge protection, putting workers at risk of falls of between 2.9 and 3.1 m.
Morago Nominees had previously been issued with five improvement notices and three prohibition notices between December 2007 and February 2008, all relating to the risk of falls.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said that falls were one of the most significant causes of workplace death in the construction industry: “Seven Western Australian workers have died over the past 15 months as a result of falls. An average of a further 1295 are injured each year, many seriously and permanently.
“Plenty of information is readily available on the prevention of falls, and I would expect building companies and bricklayers to be acutely aware of the need to prevent falls. In particular, there was an area on this site where workers were pushing wheelbarrows up a ramp with no edge protection. Around 3 m below them was the concrete ground floor slab onto which they could have fallen.
“In addition, Morago nominees had already been issued with eight notices for offences relating to a lack of fall protection, and obviously had not got the message. We hope the fact that they have been prosecuted will finally get the message through.
“This case also illustrates the value of WorkSafe’s proactive inspection work, as the companies were pulled up on their shoddy work practices before anyone was injured or killed.
“A code of practice on fall prevention has existed in WA for the past 19 years, with the original code being initiated in response to the number of fatalities being recorded in the construction industry at that time.
“The current code is comprehensive - providing information on the identification of common fall hazards and the use of fall restraint and fall arrest equipment - and I urge all employers with workplaces that may contain fall hazards to ensure copies of the code are readily available at their workplaces.”
as posted here
Construction company Morago Nominees (trading as Gavin Constructions) was fined $4000 and the subcontract bricklaying company Airdas (trading as Tyrone Bricklaying) was fined $2000 in the Armadale Magistrates Court in Western Australia for failing to provide edge protection on a building site.
In 2008, two WorkSafe inspectors visited a site where a community centre was being built for the City of Gosnells and found that there were several areas on the first floor of the building that did not have the required edge protection, putting workers at risk of falls of between 2.9 and 3.1 m.
Morago Nominees had previously been issued with five improvement notices and three prohibition notices between December 2007 and February 2008, all relating to the risk of falls.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said that falls were one of the most significant causes of workplace death in the construction industry: “Seven Western Australian workers have died over the past 15 months as a result of falls. An average of a further 1295 are injured each year, many seriously and permanently.
“Plenty of information is readily available on the prevention of falls, and I would expect building companies and bricklayers to be acutely aware of the need to prevent falls. In particular, there was an area on this site where workers were pushing wheelbarrows up a ramp with no edge protection. Around 3 m below them was the concrete ground floor slab onto which they could have fallen.
“In addition, Morago nominees had already been issued with eight notices for offences relating to a lack of fall protection, and obviously had not got the message. We hope the fact that they have been prosecuted will finally get the message through.
“This case also illustrates the value of WorkSafe’s proactive inspection work, as the companies were pulled up on their shoddy work practices before anyone was injured or killed.
“A code of practice on fall prevention has existed in WA for the past 19 years, with the original code being initiated in response to the number of fatalities being recorded in the construction industry at that time.
“The current code is comprehensive - providing information on the identification of common fall hazards and the use of fall restraint and fall arrest equipment - and I urge all employers with workplaces that may contain fall hazards to ensure copies of the code are readily available at their workplaces.”
as posted here
West Australian tree man Richard Pennicuik continues protest
as posted here
A WESTERN Australian man has refused to abandon his perch in a gum tree, despite his high-powered attorney advising him to end his 93-day protest.
Lawyer John Hammond met his client, tree-man Richard Pennicuik, to read him a section of the Local Government Act which spelled out the city's wide-ranging prosecution powers.
"It is that very broad spectrum that makes it difficult for him to stay up there, unless he wants to take them (the council) on," Hammond said.
Pennicuik, 57, began camping in the canopy of the gum tree near his home in Thornlie, near Perth, on December 7.
The local government intended to cut it down because it believes falling limbs could become a danger to property and the public.
Yesterday, the city said it would take Pennicuik to court for obstruction unless he climbed down and allowed contractors to lop the tall Eucalyptus.
He could face a fine of $5000 and penalties of up to $500 a day if he refused.
Pennicuik said he could not say if he would obey or maintain his protest.
"I don't know what's going on at the moment," he said.
"He (Hammond) thinks I should come down, but I still want time to think about it," Pennicuik said.
"I am not ready to give up.
"I am going to stay up here and think about it. I’m not going to be pressured by anyone."
He said he wanted to discuss the matter with his supporters and friends before making a decision.
"I could stay up another 20 years if I had to," he said.
The government forced Pennicuik to remove a tree house in January.
as posted here
A WESTERN Australian man has refused to abandon his perch in a gum tree, despite his high-powered attorney advising him to end his 93-day protest.
Lawyer John Hammond met his client, tree-man Richard Pennicuik, to read him a section of the Local Government Act which spelled out the city's wide-ranging prosecution powers.
"It is that very broad spectrum that makes it difficult for him to stay up there, unless he wants to take them (the council) on," Hammond said.
Pennicuik, 57, began camping in the canopy of the gum tree near his home in Thornlie, near Perth, on December 7.
The local government intended to cut it down because it believes falling limbs could become a danger to property and the public.
Yesterday, the city said it would take Pennicuik to court for obstruction unless he climbed down and allowed contractors to lop the tall Eucalyptus.
He could face a fine of $5000 and penalties of up to $500 a day if he refused.
Pennicuik said he could not say if he would obey or maintain his protest.
"I don't know what's going on at the moment," he said.
"He (Hammond) thinks I should come down, but I still want time to think about it," Pennicuik said.
"I am not ready to give up.
"I am going to stay up here and think about it. I’m not going to be pressured by anyone."
He said he wanted to discuss the matter with his supporters and friends before making a decision.
"I could stay up another 20 years if I had to," he said.
The government forced Pennicuik to remove a tree house in January.
as posted here
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