On 10 July, a crane supervisor pleaded guilty to a ‘Category 2’ offence contrary to s.32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (‘the WHS Act’).

The defendant was employed as a sales and crane supervisor, by a company which is in the business of hiring out cranes (the PCBU). In December 2021 a lattice boom crawler crane was hired to a construction workplace at Skyring Terrace, Newstead.

At the conclusion of the hire, the crane was to be de-rigged and transported from the workplace. Due to bad weather the de-rigging was cancelled on 8 December 2021 and re-scheduled for the following day.

The task had previously been allocated to two licensed riggers, to be undertaken later in the day on 9 December 2021 but had been brought forward in the day by the request of the hirer made of the defendant.

A young fitter mechanic was assigned to work with the defendant (as his supervisor), but should not have been assigned to the work, as he did not hold the appropriate rigging qualification. He should not have been working on de-rigging of the crane.

The defendant had a duty as a worker under section 28(b) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to take reasonable care to ensure that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons. The defendant failed to comply with that duty and as a result exposed a person to a risk of death or serious injury.

The process of de-rigging the crane required the bridle to be pinned to the butt section of the jib of the crane, before the pins connecting the two sections of the jib were removed with a sledgehammer.

The removal of the connecting pins should have been done from a safe position, say from an elevating work platform which had been offered to the defendant for this task by the site supervisor at the construction site.

The defendant was distracted by a telephone call and failed to appreciate that the bridle had not been pinned and that the young worker commenced removing the connecting pins from an unsafe position on the tray of the truck, onto which the jib was being loaded.

When he struck the second connecting pin, the jib of the crane fell onto the young worker’s foot, causing a severe crushing injury which necessitated the amputation of four of his toes.

The jib fell because the bridle had not been pinned to the jib.

The worker has been affected physically, mentally, financially and emotionally. The incident has also had a profound effect on his family.

The magistrate accepted that the defendant was not aware that the young worker was not licensed to perform the work, and that had he known that the defendant may have called off the work or paid more attention to his supervisory duties.

In assessing the gravity of the offending, the magistrate took into account the potential consequences of the risk; the probability of the risk manifesting; the availability of steps to lessen, minimise or remove the risk and whether those steps are complex and burdensome or mildly inconvenient.

It was found that with such a heavy piece of equipment, the consequences were high, the likelihood of risk manifesting was obvious and foreseeable, and could have been minimised if a platform been in place, although some risk of injury would still be there. Had the defendant been properly supervising he would have become aware of failings.

The magistrate found that the defendant did not deliberately set out to change safety procedures.

The magistrate noted that the defendant had suffered himself in some was in that his mental health has been affected and he is now being medicated. He is no longer employed by the crane company and now refuses to accept any position with supervisory capacity.

The magistrate found that in those circumstances, there was no need for specific deterrence, but that a sentence reflecting general deterrence to those acting in a supervisory capacity was required.

The defendant was fined $10,000.

No conviction was record against the defendant.

The defendant was also ordered to pay legal costs and court fees of $1601.40.

The PCBU has also been charged with a category 2 offence in relation to this incident.

OWHSP contact: enquiries@owhsp.qld.gov.au