Prosecution Details

Being an employer, failed, so far as was practicable, to provide and maintain a working environment in which its employees were not exposed to hazards, and by that contravention, caused the death of an employee contrary to sections 19(1) and 19A(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984

Introduction

On 7 March 2020, at premises operated by Monadelphous Engineering Associates Pty Ltd (Monadelphous), in Kalgoorlie, a “pot straightener frame” which was being transported, fell and crushed an employee (the victim). He died from the injuries he sustained.

The work environment

Monadelphous provides maintenance and industrial services to heavy industry from premises in Kalgoorlie (Workplace). Those activities relevantly include the construction, painting and blasting of metal structures. Blasting is a process whereby abrasive material is used to prepare a metal surface for painting.

The employees involved

Three employees were at the Workplace on 7 March 2020 at the time of the Incident: the victim, a worker employed on a casual basis as a blaster and a supervisor.

The blaster’s duties included blasting, loading and unloading items using a forklift or telehandler from delivery trucks and moving items to prepare them for delivery to customers. He used the forklift and telehandler to move items on a regular basis.

The victim was employed by Monadelphous from 18 December 2019 as a trades assistant. His duties included assisting other tradespersons by ensuring the work area was clean and hazard free, and that the correct tools were available. His duties also included assisting skilled or semi-skilled workers, such as riggers and crane drivers. At the time of the Incident, he was 26 years old and had been working for Monadelphous for less than three months.

The supervisor was employed by Monadelphous as the supervisor of painting and blasting at the Workplace, and his duties included, amongst other things, supervision of the victim and the blaster.

The pot straightener frame

A “pot straightener frame” is a piece of equipment used by a mining company in its nickel smelting operations. It is a metal structure constructed of heavy steel.  It consists of two vertical legs extending directly down to the ground from either end of a horizontal top bar, and two further vertical legs extending down to the ground at a 45 degree angle from either end of the top bar. Support bars connect the vertical and angled legs. The top bar is approximately 5.8m long. The vertical legs are approximately 1.8m long. The angled legs are approximately 2.1m long. It weighs 684kg. The Frame is an unstable load and lacks designated lifting points. The pot straightener frame involved in the incident (Frame) had been ordered by a mining company from Monadelphous. It was constructed by Monadelphous at the Workplace. Monadelphous had previously received an order for, and constructed, a similar pot straightener frame around July 2018.

The incident

The workday on 7 March 2020 commenced at 6am with a pre-start meeting carried out by the supervisor. In attendance were the victim and the blaster. The key activities for the day were blasting and painting. The blaster and victim inspected the blast shed and found that it was tidy and ready for the day. They saw the Frame in one of the paint sheds, and determined to move it to a delivery area, so that it would not be over-sprayed by other paint jobs. The blaster decided to use a telehandler to move the Frame, as he had seen the supervisor use the telehandler to move the Frame the previous day.

A telehandler is a four-wheel drive vehicle with a boom which can extend. Telehandlers are primarily used to lift loads. Telehandlers can be fitted with multiple different tools on the end of the boom, including a crane jib or forks. A telehandler is similar, but not identical to a forklift, and is more complex to operate. When a forklift lifts a load, the load moves completely vertically. By contrast, when a telehandler lifts a load attached to the end of the boom, the load is moved both vertically and horizontally, because the end of the telehandler boom traces a vertical arc. The telehandler involved in the incident was a Manitou Telescopic Handler.

At the time of purchase, it was supplied with both a fork attachment and a crane jib attachment. The telehandler was fitted with the fork attachment at the time of the Incident. The victim acted as spotter for the blaster during the movement of the Frame. The blaster moved the telehandler forks under the horizontal top bar of the Frame, and raised the forks so that the horizontal top bar was being carried on the forks and the Frame was lifted above the ground.  The Frame was positioned towards the back of the forks, and the forks were kept almost level, but slightly tilted back.

The Frame was not secured to the telehandler forks in any way. For background, the forks had been wrapped in carpet like material, and the carpet like material had then been secured using duct tape,

in order to protect the paint on the Frame. Once the Frame was loaded onto the telehandler, the blaster drove the telehandler out of the paint shed across the work yard to the loading area. The victim guided him. He placed wooden “gluts” on the ground in the loading area, which the Frame would be placed on. The blaster then began lowering the Frame onto the gluts on the ground. The two angled and longer legs, which were closest to the telehandler, touched the gluts on the ground. The blaster then continued to lower the Frame, whilst slowly moving the telehandler forward, so that the two vertical and shorter legs would also touch the gluts on the ground.

The victim was standing roughly level with the front left tyre of the telehandler, and roughly one metre away from it. The victim was  within 3 metres of the telehandler. When the remaining legs of the frame were around knee-height off the ground, the victim walked briskly towards the Frame, and bent at the waist forward towards the gluts on the ground. His body was inside and underneath the Frame. At that same time, the Frame moved off the telehandler forks, and fell forward, with the support bar arcing over the shorter vertical support legs. As it fell to the ground, the Frame hit and crushed the victim.

The victim suffered a fatal head crush injury. Ambulance officers attended and conveyed him to Kalgoorlie hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Aside from the blaster, there were no other eyewitnesses to the Incident, and no CCTV system was in operation.

Movement of the Frame prior to the Incident

The day prior to the incident, on 6 March 2020, the supervisor moved the Frame by placing the telehandler forks under the horizontal top bar of the Frame and tilted them back to form a “v” shape, with the Frame hanging from the forks and resting on the backboard. The blaster and the victim were present as spotters at the time for the supervisor and observed him move the Frame in this manner. The supervisor directed two or three employees to push the Frame whilst it was being landed, and so to move within 3 metres of the telehandler.

Training

Neither the victim or the blaster had completed any specific training with respect to exclusion zones prior to the incident.

Practicable Measures

The practicable measure was to provide and maintain a system of work which ensured that a personal exclusion zone extending 3 metres from the telehandler and the load was maintained when in operation.

Subsequent to the Incident

Following the Incident, Monadelphous issued a safety alert to all its sites providing that no person was to enter within 3m of any load during movement by telehandler.

The offender plead guilty and was convicted on 29 November 2024.  On 22 January 2025 the Magistrate handed down decision on sentencing and issued a fine of $685,000 and ordered costs of $21,413.00