Aboriginal Corporation charged over rollover incidents that included a fatality

A Central Australian Aboriginal Corporation has been charged by NT WorkSafe in relation to two rollover incidents that injured two workers and killed a third. Located in a remote community north-east of Alice Springs, workers were required as part of their work to travel along an unsealed road in a utility type vehicle.

Despite having information on the hazards of driving on unsealed roads and the significantly higher rollover rate utility vehicles had compared to other types of vehicles, NT WorkSafe alleges that the corporation did not develop safe systems of work and did not provide its workers with adequate information or training on four-wheel driving.

These failures, NT WorkSafe said, culminated in two single-vehicle rollovers on 16 April 2021 where one worker was seriously injured, and again on 17 June 2023 where one worker was seriously injured and another fatally injured. Safe systems of work were not developed or implemented in both incidents, NT WorkSafe said, and workers were not provided with appropriate four-wheel drive training.

Under the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (the Act), the corporation faces the following four charges:

• One Category 2 charge for failing the primary duty of care under section 19(1) of the Act
• One Category 2 charge for failing the primary duty of care under section 19(3)(a)(c) and (f) of the Act
  • One alternative category 3 charge failing the primary duty of care under section 19(3)(a)(c) and (f) of the Act, and
• One Category 2 charge for failing the duty involving management and control of plant at a workplace under section 21(2) of the Act
   

The corporation faces a combined maximum penalty of $4.5 million dollars if found guilty of all charges.

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