Vehmelha Pty Ltd charged after Henry Dunn lost his arm while installing fence posts

NT WorkSafe has charged a cattle company operating in the Top End, as well as its director and a station manager, after a British backpacker lost his arm after it was crushed by machinery.

NT WorkSafe has charged a Queensland-based cattle company after a British backpacker had to have his arm amputated after it was crushed by a heavy piece of machinery.

A WorkSafe spokesman said two station hands were installing fence posts at Vehmelha Station in the Katherine Region in November last year when the incident occurred.

He said one of the workers was operating a tractor with an attached post-driver at the time, while the backpacker, Henry Dunn, 23, was manually positioning the fence posts.

During the course of the operation Mr Dunn had his arm crushed by the post-driver.

As a result of the serious crush injury, he travelled by ute, ambulance and CareFlight aircraft to Royal Darwin Hospital where his arm had to be amputated.

British backpacker Henry Dunn lost his lower left arm after a workplace accident on a remote Northern Territory cattle station.

At the time he was just one week away from finishing his work on the remote Larrimah station.

Mr Dunn set up a GoFundMe during his recovery to cover costs not captured by the NT’s workers’ compensation scheme.

“I can’t thank enough the people who were involved in getting me to the Royal Darwin Hospital,” he said after the incident.

“From my friends at the pub who helped initially, the paramedics, doctors and pilots who brought me to the hospital and then the surgeons and nurses who looked after me.”

NT WorkSafe will allege the post-driver had been modified, with important built-in safety features removed.

The regulator will also allege the tractor, which was 10-years-old, lacked labelling or marking to differentiate the functions of various levers which were located together.

NT WorkSafe have charged a Queensland cattle compnay after Henry Dunn lost his lower arm in a workplace accident.

It is also alleged neither of the workers were provided with adequate training or instructions and the company had not implemented a safe system of work on the use of the tractor or post-driver.

As a result, Vehmelha Pty Ltd, company director Hoang Nguyen and Vehmelha Station manager Lindsay Elliott were each charged with reckless conduct under section 31 of the Work Health and Safety Act.

If found guilty, the company faces a combined maximum fine of $6m, while Mr Nguyen and Mr Elliott could each be fined a combined maximum of $1.2m or spend five years in prison if convicted.

Alternative charges of failing to comply with a health and safety duty under sections 32 and 33 of the WHSA have also been brought against all three defendants, who are yet to enter any pleas.

The case has been listed in the Darwin Local Court for October 3.