Former Jungle Surfing managing director Sheena Mary Walshaw accused of failing due diligence at Cape Tribulation business where man fell to his death in 2019
The lives of workers and patrons at a Cape Tribulation zipline business should have been the utmost priority for the company running it and for the managing director, the court heard.
Nothing should have been more important to the boss of Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours at Cape Tribulation than the safety of ziplines, a court has heard.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) is prosecuting Sheena Mary Walshaw, the former managing director of Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours, whose parent company Keydane went in to liquidation five months after Dean Sanderson fell 16m to his death in 2019.
His Adelaide-based wife Shannon Sanderson, who fell 10m and sustained serious injuries, was in court throughout the trial this week.
Ms Walshaw is defending a charge in Cairns Magistrates Court that she failed to comply with health and safety duty – category two, meaning the failure exposes an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness.
Keydane faces a charge of reckless conduct, with a five day trial anticipated in Cairns District Court in June.
This is despite the fact the company cannot be fined if convicted as it has been wound up.
Prosecutor Glen Rice KC said as managing director of the business, Ms Walshaw should have been aware of decisions made around zipline design and the required Australian standards.
“In the context of assessing due diligence in this case, the starting point should be there was nothing more important to this business than the safety of the ziplines – quite literally, the lives of her staff and customers depended on it,” Mr Rice told the court.
“Nothing should have attracted her focus more than the safety of the ziplines, it ought to have been her number one priority above all else.”
He said Keydane breached its primary duty and Ms Walshaw in turn should have exercised due diligence to make sure Keydane met its requirements, and that meant engaging properly qualified people to install cables at the new grandstand platform.
“There were other forms of termination that would have minimised or reduced the risk of slippage,” Mr Rice said.
He said no staff member had advanced rigger qualifications and there was no suitable torque wrench on the site, and Keydane failed to take reasonably practical measures.
“This is life critical – we’re not talking about the possibility of someone bruising their toe,” Mr Rice said.
But defence lawyer David McClure said Ms Walshaw did have a system in place, and that was operations manager Leigh Gallon, to whom she entrusted primary responsibility for work health and safety.
Mr Gallon is not accused of any wrongdoing.
“The managing director cannot be expected to know everything at all times,” Mr McLure said.
He said saying zipline safety was paramount was incorrect because there were multiple points where a patron or worker could be harmed if equipment was not correctly designed, installed and maintained.
“There was a system and the system was Mr Gallon,” he said.
He said when a supervisor mentioned wire rope grips in a meeting, Ms Walshaw said to Mr Gallon he would need to make sure that design was permitted.
He cited Australian standards references which warned against using wire rope grips to hold up a person.
He said there was one part-time employee with advanced rigging qualifications and there was no reason she couldn’t have been asked to do the rigging.
Magistrate Kevin Priestly reserved his decision and set a date for mention of March 27.
Mrs Sanderson and her son Bailey sued Keydane, seeking damages of more than $1.8m for her husband’s death and $624,000 for her own injuries.
The Supreme Court matter was discontinued.
Treetops Cape Tribulation remains closed pending public road repairs.
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Originally published as Former Jungle Surfing managing director Sheena Mary Walshaw accused of failing due diligence at Cape Tribulation business where man fell to his death in 2019
