Government of Western Australia | A freight haulage company and its sole director have been fined a total of $400,000 (and ordered to pay $6,500 in costs) over an incident in which a worker suffered serious injuries.
RGR Road Haulage Pty Ltd and director Richard Garrick Rowland pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker, and were fined in the Northam Magistrates Court.
RGR was fined $355,000 while Mr. Rowland was fined $45,000.
In April 2021, an employee of RGR was attempting to load a sea container onto a tilt truck tray by using a winch to drag the container onto the tray. He attached the container to the winch’s wire using chains and connection pieces.
When he attempted to drag the container onto the tilt tray, the chain was overloaded and failed when the sea container jammed against the end of the tilt tray. Part of the chain slung back and struck the worker, resulting in serious injuries.
At the time the worker was assigned to drive tilt tray trucks to cover for another worker, he had not received any formal training or assessment of competency from RGR.
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