Construction company Berne Fleming fined after man’s arm crushed at Mt Helen

A man injured during construction work at Federation University’s Mt Helen campus has been left unable to hold his grandchildren, a court has heard.

A man has been left unable to hold his grandchildren after a workplace injury, a court has heard.

A Delacombe construction business has been fined $20,000 after a worker’s arm was crushed during works at Federation University’s Mt Helen campus.

Representatives for Berne Fleming Civil Pty Ltd appeared in Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Berne Fleming commenced trading in 1987 and had been under its current ownership since 2019.

The court heard it had no employees of its own but handled construction work across the state by subcontracting.

Berne Fleming was completing minor works at Federation University’s Mt Helen campus in February last year, including creating a more direct entrance from University Dr into the university car parks and better walkways for access to the southern campus.

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A subcontracted employee drove loads of crushed rock to the worksite and after his third or fourth delivery, he pulled over on University Dr to clean the truck.

Another person was operating a different vehicle at the time and reversed into the tailgate of the victim’s truck.

His arm was crushed between a grader and his truck’s trailer.

The court was told the incident was “most unfortunate” but was an “unusual occurrence” which was “out of character” for Berne Fleming.

After the injury, the company halted that particular method of worksite delivery and completed a “serious re-evaluation of all of its operations” for safety.

In a statement read to the court, the injured man said his wellbeing had suffered.

He said he was unsure if he would ever drive again, could not enjoy hobbies such as fishing, and had lost social contact.

“My grandkids don’t understand why Pa doesn’t want to hold them,” he said.

“It’s not that I don’t — the arm starts to hurt.”

WorkSafe prosecutors submitted the incident was foreseeable.

Berne Fleming received an improvement notice to have a separate parking location for the cleaning of trucks with appropriate bollards and signage, and were found to have complied with that notice by March 2022.

The company pleaded guilty to a breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $20,000 with costs of $2948 and no conviction recorded.