In a significant Victorian prosecution this month, a steel fabricator was fined $340,000 and issued with an adverse publicity order after a worker died when a crane jig fell and struck him. 

G.B. Galvanizing Service Pty Ltd operated a workplace in Victoria at which steel was galvanised. During the galvanising process, steel product was secured to a jig using wires or chains, and an overhead crane lifted and moved the jig to transport the product throughout the factory. A worker, known as a checker, inspected the product for defects while it remained on the jig. 

On the day of the incident, a worker was standing directly under suspended jigs, and was touching and working on products while they were suspended. The worker was walking beneath the end of the jig when it detached and fell, striking the worker, and ultimately leading to his death. 

Although the investigation could not identify any faults with the crane or how the jig became detached from the spreader bar, the company accepted that it was reasonably practicable to provide and maintain a system of work that would have eliminated or reduced the risk of being struck, including by:

• requiring that jigs be placed on jig stands when workers were checking products; and
• prohibiting workers from being beneath, or in the fall shadow of, a load that was suspended from the crane. 

The company also acknowledged that some supervisors had been aware of the unsafe practice of working under the jigs, as well as the fact that there was access to CCTV of the workplace, which showed this practice being undertaken for a number of days prior to the incident, with no action by the company to correct it. 

The Court, in fining the company $340,000, also made an adverse publicity order, meaning that the company had to publicly advertise its conviction.