An Australian company was fined $450,000 after one of its workers died following an accident in which he was crushed by two massive stone slabs weighing over 600 kilograms.
The incident happened at the company’s warehouse in Beresfield.
The worker, Anton Bauer, was 56 years old and died due to the lack of safety measures.
The company had 10 workers at the time of the incident, which happened on August 20, 2022. Mr. Bauer was moving the stone slabs for a client’s inspection when the accident occurred.
He was found on the floor partially buried under the slabs after a co-worker returned from the restroom a few minutes later.
According to a District Court judgment, the two massive slabs weighed over 315 kilograms each. The co-worker who found Mr. Bauer immediately called an ambulance.
However, he was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no eyewitnesses to the incident, and the last thing the worker remembered seeing Mr. Bauer doing was using a remote control to move the slabs.
At the time of the incident, Avant Stone was not following proper safety procedures when it came to moving and lifting stone slabs.
It also didn’t have a system in place to ensure that workers followed proper safety procedures.
The company pleaded guilty to the charges and noted that Mr. Bauer might have been injured or even killed due to its failure to carry out its duties in a safe manner.
The court was told that the company’s directors regularly inspected its facilities and talked to workers about safety issues.
A lawyer for the company noted that after investing $450,000 in improving its procedures and equipment, overhead cranes were added to the factory in Sydney.
According to the court’s judgment, the company failed to take adequate measures to prevent the accident from happening in the first place.
It also noted that the company should have known about the risks of the two massive slabs falling due to its warehouse’s lack of safety measures.
The fine was reduced to $450,000 after the company pleaded guilty.