Transport company fined for safety failure

Following an investigation by the federal work health and safety regulator Comcare, a national transport and logistics company has been convicted and fined for WHS breaches.

The company was fined $300,000 after pleading guilty to an offence under the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), following an incident that left a worker seriously injured.

The incident happened when workers were manually raising the heavy interlocked gates on a truck trailer after delivering a load of steel coil at an Adelaide freight depot on 25 November 2018. The gates fell on one of the workers, seriously injuring his leg.

Judge Ian Press of the District Court of South Australia said the company exposed workers and drivers to a risk of serious injury by failing to ensure the use of exclusion zones and mechanical lifting of the gates.

Comcare’s General Manager of Regulatory Operations Justin Napier said “The consequences of failing to have a safe system of work in place for this job were potentially fatal.”

“The incident was preventable and there were simple remedies available to minimise the risks – using mechanical means to move the gates and establishing an exclusion zone during the operation.”

Source Comcare website.