Company fined for death crush of Minto man

A LIVERPOOL company has been fined $100,000 and ordered to pay
WorkCover’s legal costs after a 58-year-old Minto man was crushed
to death in January, 2008.

The Minto man died when a loading ramp collapsed after a hydraulic
 lifter malfunctioned at a demolition site in Fairfield.

The Minto man, an excavator, worked for P&D Transport NSW Pty Ltd,
a trucking business transporting oversized plant and equipment to and
from construction sites.

The NSW Industrial Court found the death was caused by the failure of a
pivot pin that supported the hydraulic cylinder causing the loading ramp to
collapse.

The sole director of the transport company, Paul Houghton, was separately
charged and fined $5000 by the court and ordered to pay a proportion of
WorkCover’s legal costs.

The court found the company had no system for periodic inspection of the
trailer.