The scaffold came down at a development on Wattle Street in Ultimo, inner Sydney, shortly before 6:45pm on Saturday, damaging parked vehicles and narrowly missing people travelling along the road.
No injuries were reported.
CCTV footage published by 7NEWS shows the multi-storey scaffold falling across the carriageway during strong winds, with vehicles and a cyclist passing close to the structure moments before it came down.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended the scene. A large section of scaffold, estimated by firefighters at around 20 metres long and 10 metres high, was left lying across several traffic lanes.
SafeWork NSW inspectors attended the site and opened an investigation. Regulatory notices were issued to the site’s managers, including a prohibition notice.
The precise cause of the collapse has yet to be established. Strong winds were reported at the time, but no official finding has linked the weather to the failure.
Second serious incident at same site
The latest incident comes less than 2 months after a wall and part of the roof collapsed at the same development on 3 August.
Debris fell onto vehicles at the neighbouring service station, trapping and seriously injuring 2 men, one in his 60s and another in his 30s.
Both were taken to hospital in a serious condition. Five other people were assessed by paramedics but did not require hospital treatment.
SafeWork NSW began investigating that incident and work at the development was halted. Australian media reported that work had only recently resumed before Saturday’s scaffold collapse.
The building, formerly used as a rehearsal studio, has approval for demolition as part of plans for a multi-storey mixed-use development.
SafeWork NSW’s investigation into the latest collapse is continuing.
