National waste management company Cleanaway has been fined a record $1.1 million for breaching federal work safety laws over an Adelaide truck crash that killed two motorists.
In the South Australian Supreme Court today, Chief Justice Chris Kourakis sentenced Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd for two offences under the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act).
The penalty is the largest ever imposed under federal WHS laws.
The crash happened on Adelaide’s South-Eastern Freeway on 18 August 2014, with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions filing charges in 2016.
A loaded Cleanaway vacuum truck collided with three cars at the Cross Road intersection, killing two motorists. The truck driver had a leg amputated and suffered a broken neck. The driver of a third car involved in the collision suffered serious injuries including a fractured neck and back.
Comcare CEO Colin Radford said Comcare’s investigation found Cleanaway’s driver training was inadequate, exposing the driver and other road users to the risk of serious injury or death.
“The company’s failures had devastating consequences,” Mr Radford said.
“This was the driver’s first week in the job, and he was only trained on relatively flat roads in a truck with an automatic transmission. On the day of the collision, he was driving a manual heavy vehicle for the first time and had to navigate the steep descents of the Adelaide Hills.
“This created a clear and significant risk of injury or death. The obvious safeguard was for Cleanaway to have enforced a system of work that ensured the driver was supervised until he was experienced in operating a manual heavy vehicle in these conditions.”
Mr Radford said Comcare acknowledged the difficulties associated with the lengthy legal proceedings, caused by multiple legal challenges, and the impact this had on the victims and their families.
“This penalty comes more than a decade after the incident. We sincerely thank everyone involved for their patience and understanding – especially those injured and the loved ones of those lost,” he said.
The two charges are Category 2 offences under the WHS Act, each carrying a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd is a licenced national employer in the Comcare scheme and subject to regulation under Commonwealth work health and safety laws.
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