Company director and firm convicted and fined $815,000 over workplace death

The Victorian-based company Hajel (which traded as Del Brocco Laundry and Linen Services), which operated a commercial laundry where a man died in 2006, was convicted and fined $750,000, while its managing director, Alex Del Brocco, was convicted and fined $65,000 for workplace health and safety breaches relating to failure to ensure workers were properly trained and supervised.

It is the first time a company director has been sentenced in the County Court under section 144 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, which covers the obligations of company officers.

The company cleaned linen, sheets and towels for around 400 health facilities and restaurants across Melbourne. A 31-year-old man, who was cleaning on top of a machine that ironed sheets, died when a cleaning glove he was wearing to wipe a heated roller became caught and he was dragged in.

The court was told Del Brocco’s failures did not cause the worker’s death.

Judge Allen said while there was no reason for the man who died to be where he was when caught by the machine, as an officer of the company, Del Brocco had failed to take reasonable care for the safety of his workers.

In relation to the company, the court was told the industrial ironing machine, imported from Singapore, did not meet Australian Standards and was not appropriately guarded.

Judge Allen said the risks to health and safety were reasonably foreseeable and that, as demonstrated by the company’s actions after the incident, the safety issues could have been easily addressed earlier.

WorkSafe’s acting Executive Director, Stan Krpan, said the incident had had a serious impact on Del Brocco and was a reminder to company directors of their personal obligations to safety in the workplace: “In this case, the company has ceased trading and the laundry sold, a valuable worker has died and a great many people [have been] traumatised by the experience.

“WorkSafe has a number of cases involving directors awaiting hearing and others are being investigated. Our expectation is that directors take a leadership role and ensure every aspect of their businesses is actively maintaining safety standards.

“Those obligations apply to training and supervision, general safety and ensuring equipment is not only suited for the job but meets safety standards. Directors and company leaders need to establish and monitor good safety systems just as they would any other part of a business.”