A Gippsland, Victoria, transport company has been charged by the Victorian workplace health and safety regulator, WorkSafe after fatal fall from a truck a year and a half ago.
WorkSafe charged D&A Martin Transport after a worker fell from a grain truck at a depot at Maffra, in the north of the Gippsland region in January 2022.
The 60-year-old man suffered head injuries and later died after falling about four metres when a guard rail failed while he was inspecting hatches on top of the truck.
WorkSafe said in a statement that the company was facing a single charge under section 21(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment.
It is alleged the company breached section 21(2)(a) of the OHS Act by failing to implement a qualified inspection and maintenance regime for the guard rails and failing to ensure they were repaired or replaced when faulty.
The matter is listed for a filing hearing at Sale Magistrates' Court on 12 September 2023.
Gippsland is a major consumer of grain for its intensive livestock industries but not a major producer, meaning much of the product is trucked in from Victoria's grain heartlands in the north and the west of the state.