Equipment hire company and director fined $1,140,000 for excavator death

A Darwin equipment hire company and its director have been fined a total of $1,140,000 today in the Darwin Local Court after Mr Dwayne Beaumont was killed loading an excavator in 2019. Both company and the director entered early guilty plea in court last Friday.

In April 2019, Mr Beaumont drove a prime mover and trailer to pick up a hired excavator from Territory Plant Hire previously located in the suburb of Wishart. The excavator was fitted with a large excavator bucket that contained two smaller buckets and a ripper which were not restrained. During the loading of an excavator, the smaller excavator bucket dislodged, killing Mr Beaumont.

Titan Plant Hire Pty Ltd, trading as Territory Plant Hire, was fined $960,000 for the alternative charge under Section 32 of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (the Act) for failing its primary duty of care.

Company director Mr Jason Frank Madalena, was fined $180,000 for the alternative charge under Section 32 of the Act failing to exercise due diligence under Section 27 of the Act which allowed Titan Plant Hire to breach its duty.

Charges were also initially laid against the excavator operator in 2021, however these charges were withdrawn when the operator passed away.

The Northern Territory’s Work Health and Safety Regulator, Ms Peggy Cheong said her thoughts were with the family of Mr Beaumont, and hoped the conclusion of this trial would help to bring closure to the loss of their loved one.

“This tragedy could have been easily avoided if Titan Plant Hire had appropriate systems in place to ensure the safe operating and loading of machinery and equipment which was being hired,” Ms Cheong said.

“Equipment hire companies must have systems in place to induct workers and/or customers into the workplace and systematically check their qualifications before allowing them to operate and load hired machinery.”

“Secondly all workplaces, whether they are a hire yard or construction site, must securely restrain excavator buckets and attachments before loading and transportation.”

“Finally an exclusion zone should be in place around machinery when it is in operation to prevent the machinery from making contact with nearby workers,” Ms Cheong said.

NT WorkSafe was also awarded costs totalling $55,000.

Related documents

• Media release - Five charges laid over excavator fatality
• Safety alert - Securely restrain excavator buckets and attachments before transportation