WRL Management Pty Ltd is a transport company specialising in school bus, taxi and private charter services in South Gippsland. Following a 2022 incident in which an employee was seriously crushed between two buses, the company has been fined $40,000, without conviction.
In May 2022, a fuel tanker arrived at the bus depot where around 25 buses regularly park and refuel at around 8:30am, which was later than usual and other buses began returning to the depot after completing their morning runs. The fuel tankers presence in the fuelling area meant a bus wanting to refuel had to leave the depot area and circle back around through the depot gate.
One of the returned bus drivers approached another bus in the depot area to speak with the driver who was cleaning the inside of their minibus. Whilst she was speaking to the minibus driver through the right rear window, the driver who wanted to refuel their bus proceeded to drive their bus back through the depot gate, leaving only a gap of approximately 36cm between his bus and the driver speaking through the minibus window.
The gap between the two buses was not sufficient to allow the driver to move themselves out of the way, and as the bus drove past it trapped the driver between the two buses, crushing her. The driver was dragged along between the buses until she reached the end of the minibus and fell to the ground.
The driver was initially taken to Leongatha hospital but was then airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. She had sustained significant injuries as a result of the incident, including 20 broken ribs, a broken right collar bone, a punctured lung, a split spleen, and pelvic and neck fractures.
WorkSafe attended the WRL depot later that day and issued improvement notices to WRL.
It was reasonably practicable for WRL to be aware of the risks associated with the unrestricted movement of pedestrians, vehicles and powered mobile plant in their depot, and to provide or maintain a system of work that reduced the risk to employees by implementing a safe system of work in the form of a traffic management plan.
WorkSafe offers guidance for employers to manage the hazards of traffic on their Traffic management | WorkSafe Victoria page, including links to directions for developing and implementing a traffic management plan.
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