WorkSafe Victoria | Two companies have been fined after a woman was crushed by a 475-kilogramme tank as it was unloaded from a truck at her home in south-west Victoria.
Australian Water Systems Pty Ltd (AWS) and Clark Tanks Transport Pty Ltd (CTT) were sentenced in the Mildura Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to a number of charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
AWS was fined $50,000 without conviction for failing to ensure a workplace under its management or control was safe and without risks to health.
CTT was fined a total of $65,000 without conviction for failing to ensure people other than employees weren’t exposed to health and safety risks, failing to notify WorkSafe immediately after an incident, and failing to ensure the site of an incident was not disturbed.
Both companies were also ordered to each pay $3,445 in costs.
The court heard that AWS, trading as Clark Tanks, sold polyethylene rainwater tanks and owned CTT, which delivered tanks, including a delivery to the Nelson property in July 2023.
As the customer and his wife assisted the delivery driver to push the 23,639-litre water tank off the rear of the trailer, it became unstable and fell on top of the woman.
The driver, two neighbours, and the woman’s husband were able to lever the tank off the woman, who suffered a fractured femur, crushed pelvis and ribs, three broken vertebrae, and a punctured lung.
The court heard that it was reasonably practicable for CTT to reduce or eliminate the risk of death or serious injury by implementing and enforcing an exclusion zone from the drop zone while unloading tanks.
Furthermore, it was reasonably practicable for AWS to reduce the risk by developing policies and procedures requiring an exclusion zone during unloading and ensuring that CTT followed the procedures.
