Hay Australia Victoria fights charges in Bendigo Magistrates Court over death of Harley Muir

The mother of a Bendigo dad-of-eleven who was tragically killed in a horrific workplace accident broke down in tears as his employer fought charges of criminal negligence over his death.

Bendigo father Harley Muir died in a workplace incident at the Hay Australia Bridgewater plant on Monday Feburary 1, 2021. Picture: Facebook

The mother of a Bendigo man and father of 11 who was tragically killed in a horrific workplace accident broke down in tears as his employer fought charges of criminal negligence over his death.

Harley Muir, 29, suffered fatal injuries when he became entangled in machinery at a “crushing point” after a belt broke just before 12:30pm, February 1, 2021 at Hay Australia Victoria’s factory in Bridgewater, near Bendigo.

Hay Australia Victoria, now known as 623452924HAV Pty Ltd, faced Bendigo Magistrates’ Court for a committal hearing on Monday ahead of a potential trial on two charges of breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The company, at the time of the death, was called Hay Australia Victoria but was charged under the name 623452924HAV PTY LTD.

It has since been purchased by Hay Australia, who has no relation to the court case. 

Harley Muir, 29, suffered fatal injuries when he became entangled in machinery at Hay Australia Victoria’s factory in Bridgewater, near Bendigo. Picture: Google Maps.

A hay press similar to the one that killed Harley Muir near Bendigo. Picture: Schutz Industries.

The interstate company compresses hay from local farmers for export to other countries. Mr Muir was killed when a hay bale presser he was operating failed.

WorkSafe alleges the company failed to provide or maintain a plant that was safe and without risks to health, and that it failed to ensure a safeguarding system was used to eliminate risk in dangerous areas of its workplace.

The court heard there had never been an incident like it and that it was the first workplace fatality of 2021.

Following the tragedy, just two weeks after the father-of-eleven’s birthday, 138 members of the Bendigo community raised more than $10,000 to support Mr Muir’s family in paying for his funeral.

Bendigo father Harley Muir died in a workplace incident at the Hay Australia Bridgewater plant on Monday February 1, 2021. Picture: Facebook.

Mr Muir’s sister Georgia Bateson said “no words or feelings can describe the grief” her family, his seven children and four stepchildren, partner and friends felt after they were “left without our ‘Big H’” following his death.

CCTV footage of the horrific incident was reviewed by mechanical engineer and expert witness in mechanical faults, John Hambridge, who said there was no reason Mr Muir should have been standing where he was.

He told the court the site of the incident “was a mess” upon inspection, and there was “gross negligence” by the company in not putting guards or preventive safety measures in place.

He said there had also been “oversight” by the company in Mr Muir’s training; “the inductions were not complete, not signed”, and a standard operating procedure had not been updated since 2015.

Bendigo father Harley Muir died in a workplace incident at the Hay Australia Bridgewater plant on Monday February 1, 2021. Picture: Facebook

There was an “inadequate” low guard fitted on the machine which Mr Muir used as a step to look into the machine before the component broke within that caused his fatal injury, Mr Hambridge said.

Mr Hambridge said there could have been a light curtain installed to reduce risk — a sensor that detects people present in the vicinity of moving machinery.

Mr Muir’s mother sat beside a picture of her son in court quietly weeping as the horrific events of her son’s death were clinically analysed, with Magistrate Trieu Huynh briefly pausing to ask for tissues to be provided for her.

The WorkSafe Act dictates that equipment must be designed to be safe, “as far as reasonably practicable”, the court heard.

Bendigo dad-of-eleven Harley Muir. Picture: Facebook

There was no guard on the area of the machine that fatally wounded Mr Muir because it would have impeded the operation of the machine, the court heard.

Defence barrister for, Stephen T Russell, brought evidence of a 2019 WorkSafe inspector who found the part of the hay press that killed Mr Muir didn’t need guards.

“It would be … a disadvantage. Operator training would be more practical,” the inspector concluded.

Joel Schutz, managing director of Schutz Industries – the manufacturer of the hay press – gave evidence in court that there was no provision in the risk assessment provided to the company that identified a hazard in the strapping system that failed and fatally injured Mr Muir.

Mr Schutz said if the manufacturer had been aware the machine could create a “crushing space” that occurred in the part of the machine that killed Mr Muir, Schutz Industries would have “advised there was a risk that needed to be dealt with”.

No pleas have been entered at this stage. Mr Huynh will rule at the end of the committal hearing if there is enough evidence for a trial.