Pivotal Plant Pty Ltd, a Queensland asphalt and spray sealing company has been convicted and fined just $400,000 for work health safety failures that led to the death of a 16-year-old boy on work experience. The boy had been performing unpaid work experience for Pivotal Plant for three months in the hopes of securing a job with the company.
On the day of the incident workers for Pivotal Plant were laying an asphalt driveway at a residential address in Alberton, Queensland. During the course of the job the boy was struck and run over by an unmanned Sekai multi-tyred road roller, sustaining multiple crush injuries. Emergency services were called, but the child died at the scene.
During the WorkSafe QLD investigation it was established that the boy had been operating the Sakai roller to compact the newly laid asphalt. Upon inspection of the roller, it was found to not be equipped with an interlock device to prevent it from being operated without an operator remaining in the operator’s seat. The installation of such an interlock device is a well-known safety feature.
It was also found that the roller would occasionally pick up the newly laid asphalt – a condition described in the industry as ‘asphalt delamination’. One of the maintenance issues identified on the roller during the post-incident investigation was that some of the water sprayers did not work in discharging water spray on to the roller tyres. Without this water spray the roller tyres were more susceptible to picking up the newly laid/rolled asphalt, requiring a worker manually scrap the roller wheels when the delaminating occurred.
One worker attested that a person would slowly drive the roller away from him as he scrapped the wheels. He further stated he had, on occasion, also alighted from the roller whilst it continued travelling, unmanned, under power and then scrapped the wheels. He again stated that he did this with the roller moving away from him. This person stated he had not shown the child worker how to scrap the roller tyres in this manner.
Pivotal Plant should have prohibited workers from operating plant, including the Sakai multi-tyred roller, unless they were authorised to operate same; and ensured only trained, assessed and authorised workers were permitted to operate the Sakai multi-tyred roller. They should also have ensured adequate systems for supervision to ensure only authorised operators operated its plant.
The investigation found there were no direct witness to the incident involving the deceased child until one of the homeowners observed the roller travelling slowly, unmanned, on the newly laid asphalt driveway with this person observing “legs and boots coming from the side of the roller” and they immediately raised concerns. It became clear that the roller had run over the child.
Pivotal Plant was charged and convicted for breaches of s.21 of the QLD WHS Act (duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving management or control of fixtures, fittings or plant at workplaces) and s.32 of the QLD WHS Act (failure to comply with health and safety duty – category two). The maximum applicable fine for such breaches at the time of the incident was $1.5M. Queensland introduced an industrial manslaughter offence to their Work Health and Safety Act in 2017 but notwithstanding all the circumstances of the case the employer was not charged with industrial manslaughter or negligent or reckless conduct.
Read more: Company fined $400,000 after death of child worker | owhsp
