Luisa Stewart

Hi, I’m Luisa Stewart, Managing Director at EPS World Wide Pty Ltd.

In 2016, we built our family home in a residential street in Mudjimba, Queensland.

The house required 50 x 0.450m pier holes, and these had to be left open for 2 days until the concrete was poured alongside the slab.

As a parent, I was extremely concerned about these holes and what would happen if a child fell into one.

While we ensured we had the required fencing in place to secure the work site, we found that there were children and pets roaming the street, unsupervised, and that they were at risk of not understanding the dangers involved in entering a secure building site.

I called several construction supply hire companies in search of an item to cover the pier holes, only to find there was nothing available, aside from purchasing some plywood and using that to cover the holes.

The issue with plywood is that it’s expensive, and once it has been used, it is usually thrown away – what a waste!

Then, in 2018, we built another house and had to excavate pier holes.

One night, we experienced a heavy downpour of rain that resulted in the pier holes overflowing with water.

The cost to drain these holes and rectify the issue amounted to over $15,000!

There had to be a product that could solve both these dangerous and expensive problems – right?

Well, back then, I certainly couldn’t find any!

However, during my research, I did find that in 2008, a man in his 50s died on a construction site from falling headfirst into a 1.8m pier hole with a 0.450m diameter. It is believed he was trying to retrieve his dog, who was also in the hole.

After reading this article, and from having experienced firsthand the issues that could arise from not properly covering these pier holes, I decided that something needed to be done to effectively cover open pier holes, both for safety, and to save the holes from collecting water, rubbish and debris.

And using plywood was not the answer – although it has been loosely accepted as the ‘industry standard’, despite being against safety regulations; not to mention, it is also costly, time-consuming, and an enormous waste of resources.

So that’s how the Pier Hole Protector was born.

PROTECT YOUR WORKERS, PROTECT THE PUBLIC – NO ONE DESERVES TO BE INJURED DUE TO SOMEONE ELSE’S BLATANT DISREGARD FOR SAFETY.

THERE ARE NO EXCUSES ANYMORE FOR NOT COVERING A PIER HOLE PROPERLY.