Fatal crane-load crushing lands $340K fine

G.B. Galvanizing Service Pty Ltd, a metal galvanising business, has been convicted and fined $340,000 after a worker was fatally crushed when a suspended load fell from a crane in a Victorian factory. After earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a working environment that was safe and without risks to health, the company was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court.

An adverse publicity order was also issued by the court, which requires the company to publicise the offence, its consequences and the penalty imposed in an industry publication.

At the workplace, overhead gantry cranes were used to move around metal products, which were attached to steel frames known as jigs, as they were checked and prepared for galvanisation. While operating a gantry crane in March 2022, the jig and the attached metal product detached from the crane’s spreader bar and fell onto the worker, causing fatal injuries.

Although the company’s training materials instructed workers not to stand or work beneath suspended loads, they did not expressly mandate the use of jig stands, which were available at the workplace to support products lifted by a crane while they were being checked, WorkSafe Victoria’s investigation found.

Also, CCTV footage obtained by investigators showed — in the days leading up to and on the day of the incident — workers standing or moving beneath or within the fall shadow of 69 loads being suspended by the crane. It was reasonably practicable for G.B. Galvanizing Service to have provided and maintained a system of work that required the use of jig stands when products were being checked and that prohibited workers from being beneath, or in the fall shadow of, a load that was suspended from a crane, the court found.

“The dangers of working with suspended loads are no secret and it’s incredibly frustrating to know equipment was available at the workplace that could have prevented this tragic death,” WorkSafe Victoria Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said. “Duty holders must have adequate systems in place to ensure workers are following their training and instructions at all times, for their own safety and of those working around them.”

According to WorkSafe Victoria, measures to manage risks when using cranes include: ensuring that the proper crane and lifting equipment for the task, size and weight of the load has been selected; ensuring that cranes are maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements and specifications, and operated within their design parameters; ensuring that crane operators and persons connecting loads have been checked to have the skills, training and licences to operate safely; and ensuring that safe systems of work have been created and adhered to and that all workers are competent and properly trained before commencing the task.

Image credit: iStock.com/Collab Media. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.