Details of successful prosecution against E226569 - Individual

Incident description

The defendant held duties under s.46 and s.27(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 ('Act') being an officer of corporation which carried out farm management activities on two rural properties engaged in mixed farming, including irrigated and dry land crop cultivation and cattle grazing. It provided farm management services to its clients through this defendant, its sole working director.

Section 46 of the Act requires that a duty holder consults with other duty holders on matters where each duty holder has a responsibility regarding the same work health and safety matter.

In this case the defendant and his company held day to day responsibility for farm activities on the two rural properties. In relation to this incident the defendant had organised, through his company, that rural plant, here a tractor and trailer combination, was to be used by two inexperienced 14-year-old workers for a work activity on one of the rural properties.

On 1 April 2016, the trailer was connected to the tractor so the two workers could undertake irrigation siphon pipe retrieval and transport around the property. The workers, two 14-year-old twin brothers doing casual holiday work, were tasked with loading the pipes into the trailer and then tow with the tractor to the unloading area some kilometres away. The person who tasked the workers was the leading hand on the property. This person had received his work instruction from the defendant company's director.

One worker drove the tractor and the other manually loaded the pipes onto the trailer. A load of pipes had been collected and the worker loading the pipes was riding on the moving trailer when he has fallen and been run over sustaining multiple injuries. He died the next day from his injuries. The worker had been positioned on the trailer as there was nowhere else for him to locate himself and no other arrangements had been made for his transportation to the unloading area.

Court result

On 7 September 2018 the defendant pleaded guilty in the Goondiwindi Magistrates Court to breaching s.46 and s.27(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, having failed to ensure that it had met its due diligence requirement by ensuring his company, had adequate systems in place to consult with other duty holders regarding work health and safety matters each held a duty for.

Magistrate Bevan Manthey delivered his decision on 7 December 2018 in the Goondiwindi Magistrates Court fining the defendant $5,000. He ordered professional and court costs totalling $1092.55. The court ordered that no conviction be recorded.

In reaching a decision, Magistrate Manthey noted that the defendant had not adequately implemented systems of consultation and coordination in his company in respect of, here, the work activity and how it was to be undertaken to ensure the safety of the young inexperienced workers. There had been no consultation with the other duty holders, here the leading hand and the property owner as to how the activities could be carried out safely. Magistrate Manthey considered that general deterrence and denunciation were significant in this case.

In deciding penalty, Magistrate Manthey considered the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any work health and safety breach, co-operated with the investigation and entered a timely plea of guilty.

View the full decision and agreed statement (PDF, 5.55 MB)

Considerations for prevention

(commentary under this heading is not part of the court's decision)

When working in the agriculture industry where there is exposure to risks of crush injuries from falling off or under the path of moving plant, duty holders should consider the following:

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011
• Children and young workers Code of Practice 2006 (PDF, 0.42 MB)
• Rural plant Code of Practice 2024 (PDF, 1.73 MB)
• How to manage work health and safety risks Code of Practice 2021 (PDF, 0.65 MB)

Details