$550K fine after unsafely secured truck load is involved in fatal collision

After the ratchet strap securing an intake boom on a truck failed and was later involved in a fatal collision, a trucking company has been fined $550,000 and ordered to pay $8000 in costs.

As part of the construction of earthworks at a mine in the Pilbara, a mobile water pump known as a “MegaFill pump” was required, which has two booms — an intake boom and a discharge boom — that extend out for use and are folded away for storage and secured for transport.

If not properly secured, when folded the booms can unfold and rotate away from the pump. Therefore, the intake boom is secured for transport by way of a chain attached to the boom, a travel mount strap placed over the boom and a travel mount bolt attaching the boom to the pump frame — while over the whole machine a precautionary strap is applied.

When work was completed with the pump, a mining and construction services company placed a ratchet strap over the intake boom for transport; however, this created a risk that the boom could rotate during transport because they did not attach the chain or the travel bolt. With the travel strap in place, the pump was later loaded onto a semi-trailer. However, the truck driver failed to check to see if the travel mount bolt or holding chain had been applied to the intake boom, or to place a strap over the entire pump.

The ratchet strap securing the intake boom failed and the boom became unrestrained when the truck was travelling towards Perth on the Great Northern Highway. The intake boom of the pump struck and killed the driver of a truck travelling in the opposite direction just north of Meekatharra at around 9.27 pm on 25 July 2022.

The trucking company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk by their work and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on 13 April. Over the same incident, three mining and construction services companies were also fined a total of $770,000 in October 2025.

“This case highlights the importance of safe systems of work and ensuring that employees are properly trained in those systems,” WorkSafe WA Commissioner Sally North said. “[The company] should have had a system of work in place such as an enforced checklist requiring drivers or loaders to check if all moveable parts are restrained according to the instructions of the manufacturer, with drivers appropriately trained in how to achieve this.

“Reasonably practicable measures could have been taken to reduce the risk of the boom coming free and putting other road users at risk.” Over another incident, the company and its director were also fined a total of $400,000 in March 2025, pleading guilty to failing to maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker.

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