Hay Australia Victoria charged after 2021 workplace death

A hay export company will face court after being charged in relation to the death of a 29-year-old Bendigo man.

Hay Australia Victoria has been charged by WorkSafe Victoria after a worker was crushed to death at a Bridgewater worksite in February 2021.

The hay exporter now known as 623452924HAV Pty Ltd is facing two charges under section 21(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide and maintain a workplace that was safe and without risks to health.

In February last year Bendigo father Harley Muir died after he suffered fatal injuries when he became entrapped in a bailing machine he was operating.

It is alleged Hay Australia Victoria breached section 21(2)(a) of the OHS Act by failing to provide or maintain a plant that was, as far as was reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.

Hay Australia Victoria opened their Bridgewater facility in 2015. Picture: Aaron Francis

It is also alleged the company contravened regulation 99(3)(d) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations by failing to ensure a presence-sensing safeguarding system was used to eliminate any risk arising from an area of the plant that required guarding while a person, or any part of a person, was in the danger area.

The matter is listed for a filing hearing at Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on December 21.

Hay Australia is a global fodder exporter to dairy and beef farmers and equine businesses throughout the world including oaten hay importers across north Asian and the Middle Eastern.

In 2015 the Bridgewater facility opened after West Australian-based Hay Australia purchased land at Bridgewater at the start of 2014.