Crane company fined $160,000 after safety override and collapse
19 Sept 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Misz Pty Ltd, trading as Steel and Precast Erectors, has been fined $160,000 after a crane collapsed during lifting work at a Dandenong South factory. WorkSafe found a bulldog clip attached to the crane’s safety override switch allowed it to operate outside prescribed limits without alerting the operator.
The company pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court to one charge of failing to ensure a workplace under its management or control was safe and without risks to health.
The company had been engaged to lift pre-fabricated steel roof structures for a factory extension in June 2019. As weather conditions worsened during a lift, the crane tilted to the right, its boom hit the roof and the load fell onto the building.
The crane operator and two riggers working nearby from an elevated work platform were not injured.
WorkSafe’s investigation identified a bulldog clip attached to the override switch on the crane’s safety system. This allowed the crane to operate beyond its prescribed parameters without warning the operator.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for the company to keep the safety system operational. An alert that the load was outside safety limits would have allowed measures such as reducing the load’s weight, positioning the crane closer to the building, using a larger crane or waiting for different weather conditions.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said there was no excuse for the company’s cavalier approach. "It is never acceptable to take shortcuts on safety, particularly when heavy machinery is involved and the consequences when something goes wrong can be absolutely catastrophic," Mr Jenkin said.
"Built-in safety mechanisms serve a very real purpose and it is simply unacceptable for any duty holder to treat them as an optional extra that can be switched off for the sake of short-term convenience."
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