Bovis Lend Lease Pty Ltd (BLL) was the head contractor for the new Royal Children’s Hospital construction project at 52 Flemington Road in Parkville, Victoria.
On 21 May 2008 building works being carried out on the site involved the operation of a tower crane.
BLL had a labour hire arrangement with Direct Skills Pty Ltd. Direct Skills employed Enzo Iezzi, Petar Trupkovic and Matt Gotfried, the three of whom operated the tower crane.
Shortly before 9:30am on 21 May 2008, CFMEU Senior Vice President Noel Washington and CFMEU Vice President Matthew Hudson entered the site without invitation or notification. Mr Hudson and Mr Washington proceeded to climb the unattended tower crane.
While BLL managers were trying to get Mr Washington and Mr Hudson to come down from the crane, CFMEU Vice President Elias Spernovasilis arrived at the site.
Mr Spernovasilis met with BLL managers and advised that Mr Hudson and Mr Washington would not come down from the crane until they had made contact with BLL’s Operations Manager. Mr Washington and Mr Hudson did not leave the crane until after 12.30pm.
The ABCC alleged that the CFMEU, Mr Washington, Mr Hudson and Mr Spernovasilis contravened s.38 of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (BCII Act) by engaging in unlawful industrial action when they placed a ban on work associated with the tower crane.