Samarpan Corporation Pty Ltd, which ran the Lemnos orchard, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to failing to take practicable measures to ensure equipment was safe and without risks to health when properly used.
The court heard a man, who the orchard owners said was doing volunteer work at the orchard, called 000 after he was pinned underneath a tractor that had fallen on him on March 18, 2022.
Prosecutor Erik Dober said police found two tractors in the orchard, with one bogged attached by a ratchet strap to a second tractor that had rolled onto the victim.
The man had been trying to pull out a tractor he had bogged earlier.
The man was flown to Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital by air ambulance after the incident with a broken forearm, wrist, hand and leg.
The David Brown 990 tractor that had rolled did not have rollover protection.
WorkSafe found that there was a risk to the safety and welfare of people using the tractor if it rolled when working on rough, slick or muddy surfaces, working near dams, ditches, irrigation channels, embankments or overhanging structures, or if it was pulling heavy loads.
Mr Dober said there were alternate means that could be used to recover stuck equipment that did not involve towing, but they were not available at the property.
Samarpan Corporation’s defence counsel told the court the orchard’s two owners had emigrated to Australia from India in 2018 and had a background in accounting but thought they would “have a go at farming” in Australia.
She said there were two tractors at the orchard and the David Brown 990 tractor was “not in use” at the orchard.
“It came with the farm. It was in the shed,” she said.
“It was not envisaged it would be used.”
The defence counsel said the likelihood of an incident like this one occurring was low as the tractor was not usually used.
“He was using the appropriate equipment for the task he was doing,” she said of the victim using the other tractor that was fitted with the rollover protection.
“It was not reasonably foreseeable he would get bogged and he would use this tractor on the orchard.”
She also said charges were not laid for breaches of safety like this very often because WorkSafe usually issued improvement notices before prosecuting them.
She also said specific deterrence was not needed in this case as the company had sold the orchard in 2022.
In fining Samarpan Corporation Pty Ltd $6000, magistrate Peter Mithen said the incident was preventable.
“The company was very fortunate (the victim) was not injured or worse,” he said.
However, Mr Mithen took into account the company’s good record and did not impose a conviction for the matter.
The company was also ordered to pay $3310 in costs to the prosecution.
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