Fined for bobcat death
Bin company’s conviction, $175,000 penalty for work site tragedy
A GROVEDALE business has been convicted and fined $175,000 following the death of a worker at its transfer station.
The penalty comes after Brendan Griffiths, 29, was run over by a bobcat at Brett’s Bins’ Wilray St site on May 6, 2016.
The company pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday to one count of failing to provide a safe workplace.
Magistrate John Lesser said the company had breached its duty of care but took its early guilty plea into account when imposing the penalty.
“You have to do your best to mitigate or reduce these circumstances (in which workers can be injured),” he said.
Victorian WorkCover Authority lawyer Duncan Chisholm told the court Mr Griffiths had traces of cannabis in his blood after his death, but a post-mortem was unable to determine if he was cannabis-affected at the time of the accident.
The court heard Mr Griffiths, who worked as a yard hand at Brett’s Bins, was hit by a bobcat while walking back from a pile of waste carrying a metal sheet. The company’s owner cried in court as victim impact statements from Mr Griffiths’ mother Leanne and sister Sara were read to the court.
Stephen Russell, lawyer for Brett’s Bins, said the company’s owner asked a supervisor to issue a safety reminder on the morning of the incident.
“The staff were chatting and perhaps not paying as much attention as they should be,” Mr Russell said.
The court heard the supervisor reminded Mr Griffiths and other staff to maintain safe distances from working machines just 40 minutes before the accident.
Mr Russell said the com- pany had implemented a traffic management plan after the incident.
“They did have a system of work in place, but it wasn’t as robust or thorough as it should have been,” he said.
He asked the court to fine the company “in the vicinity of $100,000” due to its early guilty plea.
In a statement to the Geelong Advertiser, WorkSafe’s executive director of health and safety Marnie Williams said effective traffic management needed to be a top priority on sites where powered mobile machinery operated.
“Simple warnings and rules about staying away from moving machinery are not enough,” Ms Williams said. “Zones where machinery will be operating need to be clearly defined, and plans need to be drawn up ahead of time to en- sure workers can perform their tasks without having to be in those zones.
“This terrible tragedy could have been avoided if these basic safety measures had been implemented and enforced.”
Mr Lesser ordered Retmar Pty Ltd, trading as Brett’s Bins, to pay $3580 in costs.