A sculpture installer who suffered facial lacerations working for popular art event Sculpture by the Sea claims he was sacked after complaining about safety.
Lead installer Yuri Humeniuk was hospitalised and had to undergo facial surgery when he was injured at the organisation’s storage depot in the Sydney suburb of Kingswood in January 2024.
The city’s annual Sculpture by the Sea event is billed as the largest free outdoor sculpture exhibition in the world and attracts an audience of about 450,000 people.
Mr Humeniuk raised his longstanding safety concerns with the organisation’s senior management in the months following the injury, according to Fair Work Commission documents.
In September 2024, Sculpture by the Sea told Mr Humeniuk it ‘would like to take a pause’ in their working relationship until after that year’s Bondi exhibition.
Mr Humeniuk took his case to the Fair Work Commission, alleging he was exercising a workplace right in raising safety concerns and was sacked as a result, in contravention of workplace laws.
Lawyers for Sculpture by the Sea argued Mr Humeniuk was employed on a casual basis and there was no obligation to offer him work at the Bondi event.
They further argued the commission did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter because Mr Humeniuk had not actually been dismissed.
An initial ruling agreed Mr Humeniuk had not been dismissed, but in September an appeal bench quashed that decision, finding the ‘pause’ in his employment amounted to a dismissal.
The dispute has come to light weeks after Sculpture by the Sea publicised a $200,000 shortfall in its finances, launching a last-minute funding drive so the 2025 event could proceed.
Sculpture by the Sea installer Yuri Humeniuk needed facial surgery after a workplace accident
David Handley says it was first time a Sculpture by the Sea worker was injured in 29 years.
It is now set to open on October 17, with donors pledging more than $125,000 and NRMA Insurance contributing $200,000 to become a major sponsor.
The Fair Work case was not the cause of Sculpture by the Sea’s money issues because it had been represented pro bono, founding director David Handley said.
Mr Humeniuk is a highly regarded installer and has worked with Sculpture by the Sea for more than two decades.
Company manager Davina Corti told him safety policies had changed since his injury and promised attempts had been made to find an alternative to the Kingswood site.
‘You are important to Sculpture by the Sea and have been an integral part of our organisation since its early years. Your injury has rocked all of us,’ she wrote in an email cited in the case.
Mr Humeniuk replied: ‘It is unfortunate that it has taken a workplace accident to bring these issues to the forefront … I have voiced concerns verbally, for what seems like forever.’
Parts of the organisation were plagued by gaslighting and blame culture, and while some depot site managers over the decades were amazing, others were ‘wildly unsuited, lecherous, lazy or incompetent’, he wrote in a later email.
The incident at the Kingswood depot is the first time a Sculpture by the Sea worker has been injured in 29 years, according to Mr Handley.
Although Sculpture by the Sea’s landlord and insurer were told about the injury immediately, it took more than two months to inform SafeWork NSW, he acknowledged.
Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea event attracts almost half a million people each year
‘This was a mistake. I was not aware of the need to report such injuries, and as soon as I became aware, we reported it,’ he said.
Staff repeatedly offered to meet with Mr Humeniuk to resolve his concerns, but the installer did not respond, he added.
SafeWork NSW has looked into the incident and issued two improvement notices which have been complied with, according to a spokesperson.
