Waste company Cleanaway in court charged with safety breaches over horror freeway crash in 2014

The driver of a truck which crashed at the bottom of the freeway in 2014, killing two people, had not been properly trained by his employer, a court has heard.

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Waste management company Cleanaway failed to properly train a driver involved in a horror fatal crash at the bottom of the South Eastern Freeway during his first week on the job, a court has heard.

The man was driving a truck laden with sewage down the freeway for the first time when he lost control on the descent in August 2014.

Jacqueline Byrne, 41, and Thomas Spiess, 56, died when the truck ploughed into their cars at the intersection at the bottom of the freeway. The truck driver lost a leg in the crash.

Commonwealth workplace safety regulator Comcare is prosecuting Cleanaway over seven counts of failing to comply with a health and safety duty.

Defence counsel Mark Griffin QC entered not guilty pleas in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.

Prosecutor Justin Hannebery QC told the court it was the driver’s seventh day driving a truck on the road, his fifth day working at Cleanaway and his first day driving a truck down the freeway.

He said a risk management expert would give evidence Cleanaway had not properly assessed the man’s ability to drive the truck on all the routes and in all the trucks he would be expected to drive.

“The assessment of (the driver) was inappropriate in that it was conducted in an automated vehicle only,” Mr Hannebery said.

The aftermath of the crash at the bottom of the South Eastern Freeway in August 2014. Picture: Roger Wyman

“Despite the fact that (the driver) had been assigned an automatic vehicle in the first two days of his employment, it was known that there were also manual vehicles in the fleet.

“It was reasonable to assume that, at some point in time, (the driver) would be required to drive one of those vehicles.”

Mr Hannebery said the case was not a manslaughter trial and would focus on Cleanaway’s risk management instead of the crash itself.

“The allegation is that there was a risk that existed in the workplace,” he said.

“The prosecution say that there was a reasonably practicable step for Cleanaway to take that would have reduced that risk or better managed that risk but they haven’t taken it.”

A road safety expert who assessed the truck after the crash told the court the driver did not receive proper training and his competency did not match the risk posed by the steep descent.

The trial continues before Magistrate Simon Smart.