A CORONIAL inquest into the 2012 death of construction worker Leigh Anthony Reaney has started in Launceston.
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Twenty-year-old Mr Reaney was working atop the Devonport Homemaker Centre in August of that year when he fell to his death.
Mr Reaney was employed with flooring company W & A Sherwood Enterprises at the time, which was subcontracted by construction company Fairbrother.
W & A Sherwood was fined $55,000 in September 2014 for failing to ensure Mr Reaney’s safety.
Charges against Fairbrother for failing to ensure a person at work is safe from injury and risk to health were dismissed.
The inquest began on Monday morning in the Launceston Magistrates Court in an effort to determine what lessons can be learnt from Mr Reaney’s death.
On Monday afternoon, the inquest heard that Mr Reaney and his co-worker on the roof Peter Wilson were not working in line with a safety plan.
“We did the best we could,” Mr Wilson said.
Also heard were the details leading up to Mr Reaney’s fall.
Mr Wilson, 57, said Mr Reaney had climbed a ladder to the top of the centre shortly after lunch to retrieve a drill.
Mr Wilson witnessed him grab the drill and turned around to walk in the opposite direction before hearing a “bang”.
In a statement written by Mr Wilson to Fair Work in 2012, recalled seeing Mr Reaney on the ground following the incident.
“He didn’t look too good,” Mr Wilson wrote.
Mr Wilson said he was about five metres away from Mr Reaney prior to the incident.
He said Mr Reaney had a harness on, but he did not believe it was attached to anything at the time of this fall.
"I turned and walked away. I never saw what happened after that," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Wilson acknowledged that the pair had changed their work method on the day of Mr Reaney's death, and that they had used a ladder to gain access to the roof on most occasions, as opposed to a scissor lift.
In the 2014 hearing before magistrate Michael Brett, the employer pleaded guilty to one count of failing to ensure an employee at a workplace was safe from injury and risks to health, and to two counts of using or permitting use of a plant that was not registered.
Mr Brett said the precautions the company made were insufficient to discharge its duty to employee safety.
The inquest is expected to continue until July 29 before Coroner Simon Brown.
I turned and walked away. I never saw what happened after that.
- Workmate Peter Wilson