Bus crushing incident sees ACT prosecuted under Work Health Safety Act for first time

An incident involving a bus worker becoming seriously injured in 2021 has resulted in the ACT Government being prosecuted under the Work Health Safety Act 2011 for the first time in 13 years.

Transport Canberra and City Services pleaded guilty over the incident in the ACT Industrial Court on Wednesday (24 July).

“There was a grave risk here that was so easily remedied,” Magistrate James Lawton told the courtroom, which contained several high-ranking public servants, including Transport Canberra’s director-general David Pryce and deputy director-general Ben McHugh.

On 3 November 2021, Transport Canberra workers were performing maintenance on a public passenger bus by greasing the components under its wheels, court documents say.

The victim was still partially inside a wheel arch when the driver turned the wheel, crushing the victim between it and the body of the bus.

He and another worker yelled out while closed-circuit television footage captured him falling to the ground in front of the bus before he was helped by others.

The victim suffered serious injuries, including multiple fractured ribs and two partially collapsed lungs.

In a statement, he said he landed his “dream job” with ACTION Buses, which is part of Transport Canberra, in 2014.

“Never in a million years did I imagine I would suffer from a traumatic workplace injury with this employer,” he said.

“The ongoing trauma from this incident remains with me each and every day, and I will never be the same person.

“I have gone from a mentally and physically healthy person, and now, each and every day is now a challenge – who I was before and after 3 November 2021 are two very different people.”

Aaron Guilfoyle, appearing for the informant, told the court that the CCTV footage showed the “obvious nature of the risk”.

When the victim was still inside the wheel arch, the driver saw someone in similar orange clothing walk past the front of the bus, which is when he turned the wheel.

“The risk of crush injury, in my submission, was obvious, easily identifiable and should have been known to the defendant,” Mr Guilfoyle said.

He said there were effective and obvious steps to eliminate the risk, which did not involve any significant burden or cost.

“It was, in our submission, a fundamental failure,” he said.

Barrister Steven Whybrow, appearing for the government, said the buses only had to be greased like this about 40 times over 10 years.

He said while the risk in this incident was manifestly obvious and readily able to be eliminated, it was not occurring regularly and had not been flagged.

Mr Whybrow accepted the government had to set “a gold standard” and “it has to do better and do more than others”.

The government did take steps to eliminate this risk within a month of the incident.

Mr Guilfoyle said a fine of $300,000 to $400,000 was appropriate, while Mr Whybrow said the figure should be around $200,000.

The government pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to comply with a health and safety duty risking death or serious injury.

Magistrate Lawton will hand down his sentence on 7 August.