A Keysborough company and its sole director have been convicted and fined $1.43 million following the fatigue-related death of a delivery driver.
Onkar Group Pty Ltd, trading as Bakeology, pleaded guilty at Wangaratta County Court to recklessly placing a person at a workplace in danger of serious injury.
In August 2022, the 27-year-old driver’s van drifted into the path of an oncoming truck at Kialla West, south of Shepparton.
He had been 12 hours into an overnight shift delivering baked goods to Albury and other locations in Victoria’s north.
Prior to the incident, he’d performed the same 796-kilometre delivery run for 17 consecutive nights, according to WorkSafe investigators.
Most of the shifts exceeded 12 hours, without adequate breaks of time between shifts, WorkSafe told the court.
The company and its director Maninder Singh Nagi, 48 also both pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace and failing to ensure people other than employees weren’t exposed to risk.
WorkSafe argued that it was reasonably practicable to reduce the deadly risk posed by slower reaction times, attention lapses or falling asleep.
A safer system of work would have ensured the driver did not work:
– More than 10 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 out of a vehicle.
– More than 72 hours in any seven-day period without a 24-hour continuous break.
– More than 144 hours in a fortnight without a minimum two-consecutive nights off between 10pm-8am.
WorkSafe argued that Onkar Group and Nagi should have provided the driver with training and instructions on fatigue-prevention including the need for breaks.
On 22 September, Onkar Group was fined a total of $1.35 million and Nagi was fined $80,000.
The court also made an adverse publicity order, requiring Onkar Group and Nagi to publicise the offence, its consequences and penalty in an industry publication.
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.”
