Prosecution Details

Being an employee, failed to take reasonable care to avoid adversely affecting the safety of another person, through his act of lowering by crane a tipper trailer when that person was underneath the trailer.

The injured person was having difficulty freeing a split pin from part of the tipper suspension unit and called for a pair of pliers from another employee. The defendant, who was standing close by, realised the difficulty and concluded that the problem was being caused by the tipper being raised too high and causing stress upon the pin in question. He therefore decided to lower the tipper a little by use of the crane pendant control. The tipper is alleged to have been dropped an estimated 50mm to 100mm before coming to a stop. The injured person underneath the tipper had his head slightly crushed when the tipper descended.

The defendant pleaded guilty.