Firm fined $1.1m for death
Victim worked in dark without hi-vis gear when killed
THE penny-pinching firm behind a Lethbridge chicken farm was fined $1.1 million in a Geelong court yesterday after a Wallington man died because safety measures were ignored on the property.
Magistrate Frank Jones condemned CK Crouch P/L, saying it treated its chickens better than its employees.
Two of those workers were Troy Baker, 41, and his teenage son Preston.
The pair, and others, were working in near darkness about 11pm on November 30, 2015, herding chickens when Mr Baker was fatally hit by a forklift.
Wearing dark clothes, Mr Baker — like his colleagues — was not given reflective clothing to work in, and was not aware of, or trained in, the company’s safety procedures.
He suffered chest, spine and pelvis injuries, and died at the scene.
WorkSafe told the court the company had no records of safety training provided to its staff, and even the forklift driver had not been inducted
“I find it hard to believe the working environment here ... the welfare of the chickens was treated more seriously than the safety of the workers.” MAGISTRATE FRANK JONES
into its safety procedures.
Now in liquidation, the company is unlikely to pay the fine imposed on it by Mr Jones yesterday.
“It’s the worst case since I’ve been on the bench, all for few dollars,” the magistrate said.
“I find it hard to believe the working environment here ... the welfare of the chickens was treated more seriously than the safety of the workers.”
WorkSafe prosecuted the firm for three occupational health and safety breaches, including two counts of failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work and one of failing to inform, instruct and train its employees.
It said CK Crouch was contracted by Baiada Poultry P/L to catch and load live chickens from various farms, and dimmed the lights in sheds while that was happening “to reduce the stress to the animals”.
“It seems amazing to say the chickens shouldn’t be upset only within a couple of hours of being slaughtered, and in this case, it cost a life,” Mr Jones said.
WorkSafe said the tragedy was easily preventable, describing the company’s methods as a “recipe for disaster”.
“This company had safety procedures written down and even illustrated in a diagram, but they weren’t worth the paper they were on because they’d provided none of the information or training to their employees,” WorkSafe’s Marnie Williams said.
“Tragically it cost a man his life and a family their loved one.
“To be operating a forklift late at night with the shed illuminated by a single row of dim blue lights during the catching and loading process, and with no requirement for workers to wear hi-vis vests is just a stag- gering departure from safe working practices.”
Mr Jones told Mr Baker’s widow, Tamar, he hoped the fine would “send a message to employers”, and she agreed.
“I don’t carry anger about the accident,” Ms Baker told the Geelong Advertiser after yesterday’s hearing.
“It should never have happened, but I don’t blame them. That’s up to them (the company), they know what they should have done and where blame lies.
“I hope it (the sentence) sets a precedent and example so that any other employer that is lax or takes shortcuts and puts its workers at risk wakes up.
“They need to realise if you do the wrong thing someone can die or be badly injured, and it will also cost you financially.
“In this case shortcuts were taken, and for a long time they got away with it, but then there was a tragedy.”