Painter did not 'seem himself' on the day he fell from three metre platform

Gerard Robert De Zoete died on August 22 2020, after falling from an elevated work platform on June 17 2020.

Bisrey Pty Ltd, which trades as RnB Painting, pleaded not guilty to four workplace safety counts: failure to comply with health and safety duty categories 2 and 3, failure to ensure a safe work method statement for proposed work was prepared, failure to ensure a safe work method statement for work was given to the principal contractor, and failure to review a safe work method statement.

In an opening statement, crown prosecutor Madeleine Wilson said Mr De Zoete was working at 46 Canning Street as a painter for RnB Painting, which was subcontracted to Tas City Building for the site.

She said that Mr De Zoete and painter Stephen Rigby were using the elevated work platform, also known as a scissor lift, at a height of about three metres.

The elevated work platform had a gate from which workers could gain entry and exit.

Ms Wilson said that Mr De Zoete told Mr Rigby he was going to the toilet and opened the gate and stepped out backwards and fell to the ground suffering critical head injuries.

The court heard that Mr De Zoete said "oh f---" as he fell onto his back.

He was initially rendered unconscious but regained consciousness before being taken to the LGH in an ambulance.

She said he had been transferred to the Royal Hobart Hospital and provided palliative care after July 8 until his death.

Ms Wilson said Safe Work Methods Systems [SWMS] forms had not been filled out for the site.

"It is the crown case that training would have mitigated the risk," she said.

Mr Rigby said that the pair had been painting without the platform raised most of the day before it was raised to three metres.

"Did you observe his mood or demeanour?," Ms Wilson asked.

"It was a bit different to what it usually was, he wasn't himself really," Mr Rigby said.

He said that he had not seen Mr De Zoete go out the gate.

"I heard the gate slam and I heard 'oh f---' when he realised he stepped out and there was nothing there," he said.

Mr Rigby said he saw him flat on his back with his eyes closed.

"I thought he was dead," he said.

Under cross examination by defence counsel Greg Richardson Mr Rigby said that Mr De Zoete acted in way that was not himself.

"There was a lot of joking around, it was just continuous, I thought he was being a bit childish," he said.

"He said he wanted to go for a quick piss and I was sick of hearing him."

Mr Rigby said Mr De Zoete told him he had recently been seriously assaulted.

"He told me he had been hit, it was a scumbag of an act," he said.

"He told me it put him on the ground, it hurt him."

Mr Rigby said he believed Mr De Zoete had a brain fade and thought the platform was still at ground level.

He said the slope of the driveway gave a false illusion that he was working on level ground.

"He would have thought we were where we had been working all day," he said.

Fellow painter Coby Harris also told the hearing he thought Mr De Zoete did not seem himself.

Worksafe Tasmania senior inspector Paul Hawkins said he had come into possession of a blank Safe Work Management System form on June 17.

He said when he returned to the site on June 18 a Safe Work Management System form had been filled out and signed.

Glazier Dion Blair who was working close to Mr De Zoete did not witness any instruction about the work platform.

The case returns for mention on June 14 at 2.15pm.