WOORINEN South fruit grower Cutri Fruit Pty Ltd has been fined $750,000 over the death of a 70-year-old farmhand in January 2022.
WorkSafe said the Afghan national died after falling from a moving trailer.
Cutri entered an early guilty plea in the case and was sentenced in the Mildura County Court on Friday last week.
The deceased was working just his second shift with the company when the accident happened.
The court heard he suffered critical head injuries when he and another worker fell from the moving trailer at the intersection of North South Road and Reserve Road at Woorinen South.
The man died later the same day in hospital, but the other worker was not injured.
The court heard workers were required to travel to different locations at the workplace to pick fruit and place it in bins sitting on two trailers, which were then towed in tandem by the tractor.
Cutri Fruit had designed and manufactured the trailers to carry double-stacked fruit bins. Each trailer featured platforms at the front and sides to allow fruit pickers to empty their picking bags into the bins – however they were not designed to carry passengers.
During the investigation, WorkSafe found the company’s orchard manager and director had warned against the practice in WhatsApp messages to staff.
“This is incredibly dangerous and completely avoidable. Staff can drive to the blocks in their cars,” Cutri Fruit director Gaethan Cutri told staff, according to documents submitted to the court.
WorkSafe’s investigation found four workers were riding on platforms on the two trailers at the time of the incident, despite the company’s orchard manager and director warning against the practice in a message to staff just a week earlier.
The company admitted it should have reduced the risk of serious injury from workers falling by not having permanent platforms on the trailers and giving workers directions on how to travel between locations.
It was also reasonably practicable for Cutri Fruit to provide portable steps for workers to access bins on the trailers and implement a procedure for the tractor operator to remove the steps and ensure no one was riding the trailers before towing them.
WorkSafe executive director health and safety, Sam Jenkin, said duty holders must address health and safety hazards in all aspects of work, including how workers travel between different work locations.
“Riding around on any type of machinery or equipment that isn’t designed to carry people is incredibly dangerous and should never be part of anyone’s work,” Mr Jenkin said.
“It’s frustrating and heartbreaking that a man has lost his life in a workplace incident that could easily have been avoided if safe work practices had been implemented and properly communicated.”
AH Vision Pty Ltd, which employed the deceased worker, is also facing charges in relation to the incident.
