Rockhampton Regional Council fined $75k for lawn mower incident

Penalty has been handed down after a rock flung out from a Rockhampton Regional Council-owned lawn mower, hitting and seriously injuring a bus driver. Details here. 

Rockhampton Regional Council entered a plea of guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court for breaching the Work Health and Safety Act.

Rockhampton Regional Council (RRC) was fined after entering a guilty plea in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on last month to breaching the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The court heard the incident happened on March 17, 2020, at Gracemere when the male victim was driving a bus along Vinney St and turning onto James St.

At that time, a council worker was using the mower involved, which had a rear discharge chute, in that area.

As the bus driver turned, a rock ejected from the mower, breaking through the window and striking him in the head.

Students on the bus flagged down the mower’s operator, who didn’t know the rock had flung out, and he called triple-0.

As a result of his injury, the bus driver was flown to hospital in Brisbane for surgery to clean the wound and remove fractures.

The court heard the injured man had returned to work, but still suffered ongoing complications.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland began investigating the incident after it was reported on March 18.

The court heard in the four years the council had owned the mower involved in the incident, it had been serviced four times and underwent a repair about a month prior.

An inspection of the mower’s under deck revealed it was substantially damaged with multiple parts “bent, broken and missing”.

A rear discharge flap was completely worn out, and the damage reflected the mower was “not being operated properly and was not safe to operate”.

The inspection of the under deck also showed the damage was done over time and wasn’t the result of a single incident.

As a result of the incident, all 37 of council’s mowers underwent inspections, with 12 passing and 25 failing for a variety of reasons.

Five of the mowers were found to have issues similar to the mower involved with the incident.

Counsel acting on behalf of RRC told the court the breach was a “failure of having adequate” check systems in place and as a result of the incident, the council had implemented a number of changes to prevent the same thing happening in the future.

Some of these changes included creating funding for three new WHS advisers and also providing new safety check sheets which were mower specific, to be filled in before the machine is used.

The maximum penalty for a breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 is $1.5 million.

The Office of Industrial Relations sought a fine of between $80,000 and $100,000 and did not seek for a conviction to be recorded.

Legal counsel for RRC submitted a fine of $60,000 would be within the appropriate range.

A decision on penalty was adjourned to March 25, with legal representatives from both parties given permission to appear by phone or video.

Council was fined $75,000 and were ordered to pay legal costs of $1099.70. 

A conviction was not recorded.