Four charged over teen’s worksite death

THE death of a 17-year-old boy who fell through a void in a roof while working on a construction project in Perth has resulted in two companies and two people being charged.

Wesley Ballantine fell through a gap at an internal atrium at the old GPO building in Forrest Place in 2017.

WorkSafe is prosecuting contractor Valmont WA with failing to ensure a person, who was not their employee, was not exposed to hazards.

Wesley’s employer Industrial Construction Services has been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing his death.

The company’s director Adam Tony Forsyth and manager Luke Fraser Corderoy have also been charged, with the accusation that the incident was attributable to their neglect.

“These prosecutions are the culmination of a thorough investigative process conducted over a period of 13 months,” WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said on Wednesday.