A company was fined $80,000 after a worker was fatally run over by heavy machinery during an after-hours drinks session at its Bangholme depot.
HSG Asphalt Pty Ltd pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to failing to maintain a safe system of work and failing to ensure people other than employees weren’t exposed to health and safety risks.
In September 2022 four workers from HSG Asphalt and another company were drinking at the end of the work day.
One of the workers Christopher Bell started driving a skid steer loader that had the keys left in the ignition.
He drove erratically and towards other workers, WorkSafe told the court.
Bell unsuccessfully tried to knock a worker George Tereva off his chair using the bucket of the loader.
Then he drove at Tereva “full throttle”, running him over up to three times and pinning him under the machine.
The victim suffered significant crush injuries and died in hospital that evening.
Bell provided a 0.122 blood alcohol reading.
Last year, he pleaded guilty at the Victorian Supreme Court to manslaughter by criminal negligence and was jailed for seven years, with a four-year non-parole period.
WorkSafe investigators found that it was HSG Asphalt’s usual practice to leave keys in the ignition of the skid steer and other mobile plant so that workers could access them at any time.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for HSG Asphalt to provide a safer system of work in which the keys were instead stored in a lockbox with restricted access or only provided to authorized operators.
WorkSafe chief health and safety officer Sam Jenkin said the “horrific scenario” showed the importance of securing heavy machinery.
“Skid steers and other mobile plant are not toys and can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, including anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol as well as those who don’t have appropriate training,” Mr Jenkin said.
“Employers need to do everything reasonable to secure equipment and ensure it is only used for authorised work by appropriately trained workers.”
