$770K in fines after driver killed by unsecured section of a load

Following the death of a truck driver in 2022, three mining and construction services companies have been fined a total of $770,000.

The three companies — Resource Operations and Maintenance Services Pty Ltd, Diverse Management Services Pty Ltd and Technologies International Group Pty Ltd (trading as Welltech Total Water Management) — all provide services to the civil mining and construction industry and all played a role in the construction of earthworks at a mine in the Pilbara, where the incident occurred.

The mine operator requested Resource Operations to provide a water pump known as a MegaFill pump, which was procured by Diverse from Technologies International Group, the hire company, as the earthworks required the use of large amounts of water.

With two booms — an intake boom and a discharge boom — the MegaFill pump is a mobile water pump; the booms extend out for use and are folded away for storage and secured for transport. If not properly secured, the booms can unfold and rotate away from the pump when folded, so 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. Also secured is the discharge boom, by a travel mount bolt.

Diverse engaged trucking company RGR Road Haulage to transport the pump back to Perth when the work was completed. Without Diverse Management workers or the site supervisor having regard to the operating procedure provided by the hire company, it was demobilised.

Though a rachet strap was placed over the intake boom for transport, workers did not attach the chain or the travel bolt, which created a risk that the boom could rotate during transport. Neither Resource Operations nor Diverse ensured that the operating procedure was provided to the workers or that the pump was demobilised according to the operating procedure.

After being later loaded onto a semitrailer, the pump was travelling towards Perth on the Great Northern Highway when the ratchet strap securing the intake boom failed and the boom became unrestrained. The 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.

Technologies International Group designed a new restraint system after the incident, which removed the risk of the boom being inadequately restrained during transport.

It was reasonably practicable for Technologies International to fit an engineering control on the pumps to ensure the booms could not rotate or move during transport. The company failed to implement this practicable measure before the incident and so failed to comply with its health and safety duty.

Resource Operations and Maintenance Services, Diverse Management Services and Technologies International Group pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk from their work.

The companies were fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on 14 October. Resource Operations and Maintenance Services and Diverse Management Services were each fined $160,000 for their part in the resulting incident, while Technologies International Group was fined $450,000 for its part.

“A truck driver was just doing his normal job of driving when, out of nowhere at night, he was struck and killed by an unsecured section of a load being transported in the opposite direction,” WorkSafe WA Commissioner Sally North said.

“The two companies that had a role in securing the pump did not take steps to make sure that it was secured according to the operating procedure supplied by the hiring company.

“However, the hiring company must also accept some responsibility for not installing measures that ensured the boom could not rotate or move during transport.

“None of the companies took all reasonably practicable measures to reduce the risk of an incident of this type, and the end result was that a man sadly lost his life.”

RGR Road Haulage has also pleaded guilty to a separate charge but is yet to be sentenced.

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