The NSW District Court has convicted and fined Australian tree management company A1 Arbor Tree Services Pty Ltd more than AUD$2million over the death of a worker while using a woodchipper in Sydney back in 2019.
Former Fiji school teacher Samuela Cirivakayawa was reportedly working for the company at a school site in Lindfield on September 7, and was operating the machine, when workmates noticed him missing.
Cirivakayawa, who was 40 years-old at the time of the fatal accident, had been hand-feeding branches into the woodchipper before blood was found on the back of the truck, ABC News reported.
It reported court documents that stated the Fijian national had been drawn into the infeed hopper of the woodchipper and onto the internal disc drum.
It also reported that SafeWork NSW soon commenced an investigation that resulted in the single largest fine for a business in the state, handed down in the NSW District Court on July 14, 2023.
The media agency reported that the company was given a 25 per cent discount for pleading guilty, reducing the AUD$3m fine down to AUD$2.05m.
In court, it reported that the woodchipper Cirivakayawa used at the time had been designed to be fed with a mechanical log loader and “never by hand”.
It reported court findings that A1 Arbor Tree Services did not complete a risk assessment of the equipment, which also had several known defects.
According to ABC News, judge Wendy Strathdee had concluded that the company had failed to provide adequate information, training or instructions to workers in relation to the safe operation of the woodchipper.
According to the media report, the judge found culpability in this case was “reasonably high”.
“Even if the pressure event of the force which occurred might not be expected to occur often, the seriousness of the foreseeable resultant harm is extreme,” ABC News reported the judge saying.
The judge was reported to have added that she accepted that the company had implemented steps to improve workplace safety but was uncertain whether those protections were sufficient or would be maintained.
www.fijitimes.com
https://www.fijitimes.com/tree-management-company-fined-aud2-05m-for-fiji-nationals-death-at-work-site/
