The explosives contractor at the centre of the fatal 1997 Canberra Hospital blast still holds a licence for demolition in the ACT despite links to subsequent safety breaches in other jurisdictions.
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Rodney Douglas McCracken was fined $15,000 under ACT health and safety laws following the botched Royal Canberra Hospital demolition, which resulted in the death of 12-year-old schoolgirl Katie Bender.
A manslaughter charge against Mr McCracken was dropped.
Although he holds a demolition endorsement in the ACT, Mr McCracken is not licensed for explosive demolition, a planning directorate spokeswoman said.
Katie Bender was among about 100,000 onlookers who gathered to watch as the hospital was demolished to make way for the National Museum of Australia in July 1997.
The event was intended as a celebration, but shrapnel was accidentally propelled more than 400 metres from the site, with a piece of steel fatally striking Katie in the head.
Until December last year Mr McCracken was the chief executive of Queensland-based company Southern Cross Demolition.
Although he retired from Southern Cross Demolition around Christmas, Mr McCracken said he was still involved in some demolition consulting work.
Health and safety authorities in New South Wales and Queensland said Southern Cross Demolition had been issued with 9 compliance notices since 2009.
The compliance notices issued in Queensland included four prohibition notices and two improvement notices between 2009 and 2017, a Queensland government spokesman said.
Three improvement notices were issued to Southern Cross Demolition in NSW in 2013, and one prohibition notice was issued in 2012 although this was later withdrawn, a NSW government spokesman said.
Prohibition notices typically concern more serious health and safety risks, while improvement notices are less urgent.
Mr McCracken currently holds a building licence in the ACT with a demolition endorsement, according to the ACT's construction licence register.
The ACT government granted his licence in 2005 under a mutual recognition program with NSW.
“The licence he holds has conditions restricting demolition to mechanical means only, ie using an excavator, or by hand, ie hand tools. Explosives cannot be used,” an ACT government spokeswoman said.
There is no suggestion Mr McCracken has used explosives in breach of that condition.
Mr McCracken said he agreed to temporarily suspend his demolition work out of respect during the inquest into Katie Bender’s death in 1998.
He said he went back into demolition once the inquest had finished.
Southern Cross Demolition made headlines in 2013 following the explosive demolition of the Redbank silos in Brisbane.
The blast initially failed to fell the building, which stood at awkward an angle until diggers were called in to finish the job manually.
In 2011 Southern Cross Demolition was fined $40,000 after an accident in Queensland, which resulted in a man having his toe amputated.
Mr McCracken said Southern Cross Demolition had a robust safety record and was proactive in dealing with safety issues.
The company had done a lot of government contracts in Queensland and New South Wales and had worked for some of Australia’s biggest mining companies, he said.
In 2011 Southern Cross Demolition made a submission on Safe Work Australia’s code of practice for demolition work, arguing for stronger safety measures concerning demolition work near water.
Southern Cross Demolition was sub-contracted for the demolition of Wagga Wagga Hospital in New South Wales in 2016.
Lawyer Bernard Collaery, who has acted for the Bender family, said licensing authorities had a heavy responsibility to determine Mr McCracken’s ability in the wake of the Canberra Hospital tragedy.
“Everyone is capable of redemption and the past, tragic as it is, should not just of itself be held against him,” he said.
