Onkar Group Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the County Court to recklessly placing a person at a workplace in danger of serious injury, failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment for employees, and failing to ensure people other than employees weren’t exposed to risks to their health or safety.
The Keysborough company’s director, Maninder Singh Nagi, 49, of Warrandyte also pleaded guilty to two WorkSafe charges of being an officer of a body corporate that failed to take reasonable care.
In a plea hearing in Shepparton, the court heard 27-year-old delivery driver Rohallah Khashee died in a crash on the Goulburn Valley Hwy at Kialla West at about 12.49pm on August 17, 2022.
The delivery van he was driving drifted across double white lines and collided with a truck carrying two empty shipping containers in the 100km/h zone.
The driver of the truck was not injured, the court was told.
Mr Khashee was employed as a subcontractor to collect baked goods and make overnight deliveries to businesses between the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh South and Albury.
On the day of the fatal crash, Mr Kahshee had made 21 deliveries, beginning in Oakleigh South at 12.39am, and finishing just over 12 hours later at 12.40pm in Shepparton.
He had worked 17 days in a row before the crash, with most of his shifts being more than 12 hours.
Onkar Group’s defence barrister Dermott Connors told the court although his client believed it was a subcontractor’s responsibility to supervise their own rest breaks, it acknowledged it “needed to have a better supervisory role” in place.
Mr Connors told the court Onkar Group had since had new system monitors installed so it could ensure people were taking breaks in real time, and the situation wasn’t likely to be repeated.
He said Onkar Group wasn’t a large company, and it was not in the best financial position to pay a large fine.
“The financial viability of the company has been eroded since the accident,” Mr Connors said.
Nagi’s defence barrister Marcia Edwards said her client was “ashamed” about his actions and should’ve been more vigilant about fatigue management, but had since gone “above and beyond” upgrading safety measures.
This included installing new cameras on dashboards that look at who is driving in real time.
Ms Edwards said Nagi had faced challenges during the period of offending, including his father dying, and feeling “enormous pressure to run a business”.
Ms Edwards said Onkar Group was a family business Nagi had built “from the ground up” after immigrating from India more than 20 years ago.
She said Nagi wasn’t just one of many directors, and a large fine would impact more than just the company.
“To punish Onkar, you’re punishing Nagi directly,” she said.
Both Ms Edwards and Mr Connors said their client pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, accepted responsibility for offending, and was remorseful.
Onkar Group and Nagi will be sentenced in September.
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