$450,000 penalty won’t mend Mum’s broken heart

By Bridget Cook
Donna Des Barres’ son, 30-year-old Damian Des Barres, died when a 20-tonne excavator slipped as it was unloaded from a trailer at a job site in Narre Warren in 2007.
Nationwide Towing and Transport was convicted and fined $450,000 on two counts under the Occupational Health and Safety Act at the Melbourne County Court last week.
WorkSafe’s Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Marlo Baragwanath said the avoidable death was even more tragic as it echoed a similar situation which occurred less than two years earlier, where no-one was hurt.
“Despite the company changing its administrative processes following the first incident, to prevent this type of trailer being used to transport this type of excavator, their systems failed and a worker died,” Ms Baragwanath said.
Mrs Des Barres said the fact that her son’s death was preventable was the worst part.
“They (Nationwide Towing and Transport) were told by WorkSafe to do several things, but they just had an attitude that it wasn’t going to happen again,” she said.
“But it did happen again and it took the life of my beautiful son, who left behind his two-week-old baby daughter and us in dread.
“His little girl is left without a daddy simply because they didn’t fix a problem they should have.”
Mrs Des Barres said the fine handed down was inadequate and that they would appeal it.
“It’s insulting to say that my son’s life is only worth $450,000,” she said.
“Lives have been shattered … my life will never be the same, I miss him every day.
“It’s just money to them. Their lives still go on the same, they still get to go home to their family and children.”
Mrs Des Barres describes her son as a beautiful person.
“Every mother would say that about their children, but my son really was just beautiful,” she said.
“He just wanted to have a family and enjoy his cricket and football… he was so proud of his little girl.”
Ms Baragwanath said the equipment provided by the company to do the job wasn’t appropriate, and the worker hadn’t been trained to identify the risks.
The court heard Mr Des Barres was trying to drive a steel-tracked excavator off a steel-decked trailer when the excavator slipped and fell to the ground, killing him.
WorkSafe’s investigation found the trailer was too narrow to support the excavator, and the method of unloading was unsafe. The worker was required to drive the excavator from the trailer with its treads hanging over the sides of the trailer.
In addition, the investigation found the surface of the steel-decked trailer didn’t provide enough grip, increasing the risk of the excavator slipping when the trailer was tilted.