Onkar Group Pty Ltd, trading as Bakeology, and director Maninder Singh Nagi, 48, were sentenced in the Wangaratta County Court today after earlier pleading guilty to five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company was convicted and fined $1.1 million for recklessly placing a person at a workplace in danger of serious injury, and an aggregate $250,000 for failing to provide a workplace that was safe and without risks to health and failing to ensure people other than employees weren't exposed to risks to their health or safety.
Nagi was convicted and fined an aggregate $80,000 for being an officer of a company that failed to provide a workplace that was safe and without risks to health and failed to ensure people other than employees weren't exposed to risks to their health or safety, contraventions that were solely attributable to his failure to take reasonable care.
An adverse publicity order was also issued by the court requiring them to publicise the offence, its consequences and the penalty imposed in an industry publication.
The court heard the driver was 12 hours into an overnight shift delivering baked goods to Albury and various locations in Victoria's north when his van drifted into the path of an oncoming truck at Kialla West, south of Shepparton, in August 2022.
The 27-year-old died as a result of the collision, while the truck driver was unharmed.
A WorkSafe investigation found that prior to the incident, the driver had completed the same 796 kilometre delivery run for 17 consecutive nights, most including shifts exceeding 12 hours, without adequate breaks of time to rest and recover between shifts.
It was reasonably practicable for Onkar Group and Nagi to reduce the risk of serious injury or death posed by slower reaction times, lapses in attention, or falling asleep while driving by providing or maintaining a system of work that ensured the driver did not work:
- more than ten hours in any 11 hour period without rest breaks of at least 15 continuous minutes;
- more than 12 hours in any 24 hour period without a minimum break of seven continuous hours stationary rest time out of a vehicle;
- more than 72 hours in any seven day period without a minimum break of 24 continuous hours stationary rest time out of a vehicle; and
- more than 144 hours in any 14 day period without a minimum rest break of two consecutive nights between 10pm and 8am.
It was also necessary for the company and Nagi to provide the driver with information about the causes, signs, symptoms and identification of fatigue, as well as instruction and training in the prevention of fatigue, including the need for breaks with continuous rest periods.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said every motorist should be able to trust that those working behind the wheel weren't being pushed beyond their mental and physical limits.
"Driver fatigue puts workers and the general public at serious risk, and the consequences can be even more devastating when vehicles collide with other motorists or dwellings," Mr Jenkin said.
"This incident is a tragic example that shows how setting realistic workloads and safe policies can be the difference between a worker going home at the end of the day or tragically losing their life."
To reduce the risk of fatigue employers should:
- Set realistic workloads and eliminate or reduce the need to work extended hours or overtime.
- Schedule an adequate number of workers and other resources to do the job to avoid placing excessive demands on staff.
- Appropriately schedule leave and other staff commitments such as training and ensure there is a process for managing unplanned absences.
- Develop policies and procedures to identify, prevent and manage fatigue and ensure they are implemented and promoted.
- The policy should include maximum daily work hours, maximum average weekly hours, and consider time of day and work-related travel.
- Control overtime, shift-swapping and on-call duties.
- Provide adequate breaks between shifts to allow employees enough recovery time (including travel, family time, leisure and socialising and exercise time).
- Enable staff to speak up if they are feeling fatigued and unable to work without risk.
