WorkSafe Victoria | A transport company has been convicted and fined $330,000 after a driver died following a fall from a truck’s elevated tailgate at a commercial laundry in Dandenong South.
Rodrigues Transport Pty Ltd, now in liquidation, was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.
The court heard the company was engaged to support laundry collection and delivery operations by providing vehicles and approved truck drivers.
On arrival at the Dandenong South laundry, drivers would reverse into a dock and lower the truck’s tailgate to form a bridge which was then used to load or unload linen trolleys.
In June 2023, two drivers were working in neighbouring docks when one heard a loud noise and realised the other driver had fallen approximately 1.2 metres from an elevated tailgate onto the concrete floor.
The 60-year-old man was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.
A WorkSafe investigation found the truck involved in the incident did not have fall protection safety rails installed on the tailgate at the time.
It was reasonably practicable for Rodrigues Transport to reduce the risk of serious injury or death by installing safety rails on the truck’s tailgate and implementing a standard operating procedure that required their use and identified the procedure for doing so.
