A company has been convicted and fined $160,000 after bypassing a 60-tonne crane's safety system before it toppled into a building, narrowly missing two workers.
Misz Pty Ltd, trading as Steel and Precast Erectors, was last week sentenced in the Melbourne County Court after pleading guilty to breaching s26 of the OHS Act.
The crane company was contracted to undertake lifting of prefabricated steel roof structures as part of extensions to a Dandenong South factory in June 2019.
During the lift, in worsening weather conditions, the crane tilted to the right before the boom struck the roof and the load fell onto the building. Two riggers working from an elevated work platform nearby escaped uninjured, along with the crane operator.
The investigation found a bulldog clip had been attached to the override switch on the crane's safety system, meaning it could be operated outside its prescribed parameters without the operator being alerted.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said there could be no excuses for the company's cavalier approach. He said, "It is never acceptable to take shortcuts on safety, particularly when heavy machinery is involved and the consequences when something goes wrong can be absolutely catastrophic."
Read more: WorkSafe news release.