About Us

Tragedy of Christopher Cassaniti

How it started?

At 12.15pm on Monday the 1st of April 2019, a scaffold collapsed on a jobsite in Macquarie Park and tragically crushed and killed 18 year old Christopher Cassaniti. Christopher had only just celebrated  his 18th Birthday with family and friends on the Saturday. He had just purchased his first car and picked it up on the Friday before. He was a young man with dreams and goals that were never fulfilled.  His death shook the family and the industry to its core and left a legacy behind, so since his death, his mother Patrizia Cassaniti has turned her anger to something positive and has been advocating safety in his honour with a mission to make sure that no Australian worker should ever go to work and die.  She has been making the rounds on the media and sharing her story about ‘WHAT TRAGEDY LOOKS LIKE and what happens when complacency overrides what we know is Safe to do in the first place and disaster hits.

Patrizia has been presenting to our Australian Government

CHRISTOPHER’S LAW

1. Introducing Industrial Manslaughter to NSW as a necessity for a deterrent to unsafe work practises, because with no significant penalties and consequences, why would anyone care.

2. The use of independent safety officers that are not employed by the builders so they can not turn a blind eye to an unsafe situation, which is fuelled by the inability to speak up, due the intimidating culture of this industry

3. It shall give all workers assurance that they have the right without being persecuted, to remove themselves from an unsafe situations and to speak out when they believe that they are being put in danger, without being victimised or have fear of losing your jobs.

4. A LAW that protects our workers from dying or even getting injured and live, to face a world of despair.

This is a simple right, that allows all workers to come home to their families safely. NOT A PRIVELEDGE

5.  A LAW that brings in third party valuers and estimators to check all bid and tenders on large scale construction. Eliminating bad construction due to cost cutting and time factors

6. A LAW that abolishes unrealistic time frames for job completion, such as stoppages because of weather. It’s because of time frames that incidents happen as it forces cost cutting and cutting corners leading to disasters not only during but after the job has finished, with more and more defected buildings requiring costly attention.

7. A LAW that does not allow the white card to be obtained online but is only available after an approved TAFE Course or similar

8. A LAW  that requires ALL SUPERVISORY PERSONNELL to complete a full Health and Safety Representative Course or a Cert IV in WHS, so they are aware of the Consequences involving unsafe work practises.

9. A LAW that brings in specialised WHS Law Prosecutors

She has been making the rounds on the media and sharing her story about ‘WHAT TRAGEDY LOOKS LIKE and what happens when complacency overrides what we know is Safe to do in the first place and disaster hits.

With so much great infrastructure and construction going on in and around in Australia, we all need to work together to ensure our Sons, Daughters, Brothers and Sisters have great protection and safety in place at work, so that they can go home to their families.

NO AUSTRALIAN WORKERS SHOULD EVER GO TO WORK AND DIE!
Lets be PROACTIVE not REACTIVE!

Christophers-Law-Logo_Full-Colour_CMYK-01-1439x1536

The Touched by Christopher Foundation

The Touched by Christopher Foundation was launched a few months after Christopher Cassaniti was tragically killed in a scaffold collapse, 4 days after his 18th Birthday.  Patrizia and Robert Cassaniti were overwhelmed by the support they received from family, friends and total strangers bringing food and groceries to their homes, so they decided to give back.

The foundation raises money to help families who have lost a loved one in construction. We provide the families with 3 months’ worth of groceries and pay for any outstanding utility bills, so that the family can grieve without the everyday burden. Unfortunately bills do not stop when someone dies and most of the time, the person who dies is the bread winner.