South Coast agri-business Turfco Australia has been fined $375,000 in the NSW District Court after a young employee was killed while operating the company’s turf harvester.
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Blaine Rozs, a promising young U20s Dragons development player, died almost instantly when he fell underneath the reversing harvester while working for Turfco at Jaspers Brush just after 7am on December 1, 2014.
He’d been cutting turf with fellow worker Deejay Seymour since 5am and was standing on a folding platform at the rear of the tractor when the incident occurred.
Read more: Hundreds farewell Blaine Rozs in Berry
An inquest into Mr Rozs death in late 2016 found he died of traumatic asphyxiation from the nearly four-tonne weight of the machinery on his chest.
The Coroner made a series of recommendations to SafeWork aimed at improving the safety and education of those working with such machinery.
Meantime, SafeWork NSW launched legal action against Turfco, alleging it had failed to comply with its duty to ensure workers were not at risk of death or serious harm.
The company pleaded guilty to the offence, submitting in court that since Mr Rozs death it had modified its work systems significantly to ensure greater safety for workers.
The company’s general manager, Alison Roach, expressed remorse in court, saying she often lost sleep thinking about Mr Rozs’ death.
In sentencing Turfco, Judge Andrew Scotting found the company’s system for harvesting turf was “seriously deficient”, saying the risk of injury to someone working in Mr Rozs’ position was “obvious”.
“The incident caused the premature death of a young man and has had profound effects on his family members, particularly his mother,” Judge Scotting said.