A major NT company and its sole director have been charged with industrial manslaughter after a workplace tragedy two years ago.
The director of an NT construction business has been charged over the death of a man in a remote Northern Territory community two years ago.
The Territory’s work safety regulator, NT WorkSafe has charged Darwin-based Kalidonis NT Pty Ltd with three counts relating to the death of the worker at Maningrida in March 2020.
Sole director Theofolis Kalidonis has also been charged in relation to the fatality.
The company has been hit with a charge of industrial manslaughter, which carries a maximum fine of $10.35m.
It has also been charged with reckless conduct, which carries a $3m penalty, and for failing to comply with a health and safety duty, which has a maximum fine of $1.5m.
Mr Kalidonis has been charged by the regulator with reckless conduct, which carries a $600,000 maximum fine or five years in prison and for failing to comply with a health and safety duty, which has a $300,000 maximum fine.
The charges against Kalidonis NT Pty Ltd and Mr Kalidonis will be mentioned in the Darwin Local Court on May 10.
This is the first time a prosecution for industrial manslaughter has been brought since the introduction of the offence in the Northern Territory.
The charges relate to an incident in which a 50-year-old worker was fatally injured when a chain used in a towing operation failed.
According to NT WorkSafe’s website, the worker was operating an excavator to tow another excavator, which had broken down.
The chain was attached to the cassis of the damaged 36-tonne excavator and to the quick clamp of the other excavator.
The chain recoiled when it broke, striking the worker who was sitting in the excavator cabin.
WorkSafe identifies machinery operators and drivers as being the occupation with the highest number of fatalities nationally.
Source: NT News
