D & A Martin Transport fronts court over workplace death
An experienced truckie who fell nearly 4m when a guard rail failed was discovered unresponsive and in a pool of blood nine minutes later.
Bass Coast News
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A transport company in Sale that failed to adequately maintain a guard rail which resulted in a truckie falling about 4m to his death has been fined $350,000.
WorkSafe took D & A Martin Transport Pty Ltd to court following the death of 60-year-old Gregory John (Buggsy) Butcher while collecting another load of grain at Maffra on January 19, 2022.
The company appeared for sentencing in the County Court on Wednesday after earlier pleading guilty to one charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment.
D & A Martin Transport was contracted to Ridley Agriproducts Pty Ltd to transport grain to depots and farms throughout east Victoria.
Mr Butcher had worked for D & A Martin Transport for 20 years and on the fateful day, he went to the back of the trailer to raise the guard rails but only part of them was raised.
As he lent forward to check the next hatch, he overbalanced and fell 3.5m off the side of the trailer, headfirst, onto concrete.
A Ridley employee found him non responsive and in a pool of blood about nine minutes later and an ambulance was called.
His life support was turned off the following day.
An investigation revealed the guard rail failed because of a lack of inspection as well as poor repairs.
Judge Andrew Palmer said there was no suggestion the company took a cavalier or cost-cutting approach to safety in general.
However, he said, by its plea, D & A Martin Transport had acknowledged it didn’t have adequate systems in place to inspect and maintain the guardrails.
The company acknowledged at the time of the incident there was no specific directive to inspect and maintain the guardrails, he said.
“As a safety conscious employer, it should have realised these procedures were inadequate. “However, it is more likely in my view that the company never properly turned its mind to the issue of guardrails, that they fell into something of a blind spot.”
Judge Palmer accepted the company’s remorse and noted it had no prior convictions for health and safety breaches and WorkSafe notices.
In the aftermath of Mr Butcher’s death, he said company director Dave Martin felt unable to continue to operate the business, ended the contract with Ridley Agriproducts and sold all but one of the trucks and trailers.
Mr Martin is now the company’s sole employee and drives the remaining truck on a part-time basis.
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