Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
Victoria\u2019s troubled building regulator has been charged over the suicide of one of its senior inspectors for allegedly failing to provide a safe workplace free from health risks, such as stress and other mental health issues.<\/p>\n
Rob Karkut, 55, took his own life in May last year after 16 years as an inspector at the Victorian Building Authority (VBA), where he came under intense pressure to meet ambitious targets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andrea Holden, partner of the late Rob Karkut.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Scott McNaughton<\/cite><\/p>\n His death exposed the VBA, which has also been scrutinised for gaps in its regulation of the construction industry, as an unsafe workplace with toxic culture.<\/p>\n WorkSafe on Thursday announced it had charged the VBA with two breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkSafe has charged the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) after an inspector took their own life in May 2022,\u201d WorkSafe said.<\/p>\n The charges include recklessly engaging in conduct that placed another person at a workplace in serious injury and for failing to provide a safe workplace free from health risks, including workplace-related stress and psychological injury such as anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkSafe alleges the regulator refused to transfer the inspector to a different supervisor and continued to pursue performance and redundancy processes while aware that this conduct may have placed the inspector at risk of psychological injury,\u201d WorkSafe said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Age<\/em> revealed on Tuesday that five board members, including the chief commissioner, would not have their terms renewed when they expire on Saturday.<\/p>\n Following Karkut\u2019s suicide, the authority\u2019s board asked former Fair Work Commission deputy president Greg Smith to investigate the immediate dangers to the mental health and wellbeing of its inspectors.<\/p>\n A first tranche of the review, released last year, found a \u201cculture [of] conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n Chief executive Sue Eddy stood down in May and was replaced by Anna Cronin, the former commissioner for better regulation, who has been tasked with cleaning up the regulator.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s working very hard to address the issues in there,\u201d Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny said last week.<\/p>\n A filing hearing is listed at the Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court next month.<\/p>\n Karkut\u2019s widow, Andrea Holden, the VBA and the Community and Public Sector Union have been contacted.<\/p>\n