"Gut wrenching" — that was the feeling that flooded over Patrizia Cassaniti when she read about Wednesday's scaffolding collapse at a building site on the New South Wales Central Coast.
Mann Street, in Gosford, was closed for several hours after 10-metre-high scaffolding, 10 metres high, toppled over, bringing down a light pole which narrowly missed hitting the driver of a ute.
For Ms Cassaniti, whose 18-year-old son, Christopher, died in a scaffolding collapse in Sydney last year, the incident brought back the worst memories imaginable.
"It brings me back to the day my son died," she said.
"I've done so much work in trying to shift workers' complacency and make people aware of unsafe work practices, you kind of think, 'Are people listening? What's going on?'
"People need to listen and take note that such things can be devastating."
The Mann Street incident will give even greater impetus to Ms Cassaniti's championing of "Christopher's Law".
The campaign is calling for tighter workplace safety laws including independent safety officers on job sites and stricter tests to get the white card needed to access construction sites.
'Serious potential'
A woman in her 50s who sustained head injuries after a steel pipe fell on her was the only person hurt in the incident this week.
Witness Hayden Davis was getting into his car after collecting lunch when the scaffolding came down.
"I was just standing next to the car and felt rocks fall on my head," he said.
"Walked across to the other side of the car and then scaffolding starts coming down."
The deadly potential of scaffolding collapses was not lost on Brad Folitarek, of NSW Ambulance.
"The fact that there was only one person standing on the main street of Gosford at the time was a blessing in disguise," he said.
"This incident had serious potential."
'No consequences'
In June, the NSW Government passed amendments to the Work Health and Safety Act making it easier to prosecute "gross negligence" and increasing penalties for noncompliance.
Minister for Better Regulation Kevin Anderson said the "new laws lead the way with the strongest workplace health and safety in the country by making it everyone's responsibility".
While acknowledging some improvements in scaffold safety, SafeWork NSW reported that "the level of risk is still unacceptable, with 44 per cent of scaffolds having missing parts".
Labor Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Adam Searle said more needed to be done including making businesses criminally responsible for unsafe work practices.
"It is clear the current laws are failing and a major overhaul of safety standards is needed, as well as increased enforcement of those standards," he said.
Ms Cassaniti echoed calls for greater reform.
"New South Wales doesn't have consequences when things go wrong," she said.
