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 company that failed to take reasonable care.
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 court heard the driver of the truck was not injured.
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.
Mr Khashee would make between 18 and 24 deliveries a night, driving about 796km, for 10 hours and 54 minutes, not including travel to and from his home, time taken to make deliveries or rest breaks.
On the day of the fatal crash Mr Khashee 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.
After attending the workplace, WorkSafe inspectors believed Onkar failed to provide a system of work for fatigue management of delivery drivers, and issued improvement notices.
These were eventually complied with, and GPS and dashcams were installed in all of their vehicles.
In sentencing Onkar and Nagi, Judge Daniel Holding acknowledged Nagi had been deeply affected by the tragedy, was financially struggling after losing business, and showed genuine remorse.
However, he said Mr Khashee was subjected to “gruelling and dangerous” working conditions, and the risk of driving while fatigued was something that was commonly understood in the community.
Onkar Group was fined $1.35 million, and Nagi was fined $80,000.
An adverse publicity order was also issued, requiring them to publicise the offence, its consequences and the penalty imposed in an industry publication.
12°C