Company pleads guilty to young mum’s death after she was crushed by stone
A Melbourne stone company has pleaded guilty to unsafe work practices after a woman was crushed at a Dingley Village warehouse.
South East
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A woman was crushed to death under the weight of up to 750kg when stone slabs she was unloading from a shipping container fell.
That’s what the Melbourne County Court heard as Australia Rong Hua Fu Pty Ltd, trading as RHF Stone, pleaded guilty to three charges relating to unsafe workplace practices and machinery.
In April 2020, WorkSafe was called to a Dingley Village warehouse after the mum was crushed by falling stone.
The 34-year-old woman died after three stone slabs, each weighing up to 250kg, fell onto her as she was helping unload a shipping container.
It is understood the slabs were delivered the night before and were not on a safe angle inside the container.
Despite this workers proceeded to unload the slabs from inside the fall zone, where they shouldn’t have been standing.
The woman was the sister and sister-in-law to the company’s directors at the time and left behind a husband and children.
Defence barristers told the court the whole company was “traumatised” by her death and they purchased an apartment for the woman’s family, which is now in trust to her children.
“This has been traumatic for a small family business,” defence said.
When WorkSafe came to investigate the death, it was discovered a forklift used was also not in safe working condition, having rubber bands wrapped around a lever instead of the correct attachment.
The racks inside the warehouse, used to store slabs, were also found to not be up to scratch.
The prosecution submitted the company should have known the safety standards and had “substantially” deviated from them.
The company had never been in trouble with WorkSafe prior to this incident.
