Scocan Holdings Pty Ltd & Ors v Work Health and Safety Prosecutor
[2025] QDC 56 · Rafter SC DCJ
A company that harvested pineapples on a farm at Tinana, and its two directors, were prosecuted under workplace health and safety laws after a 19-year-old worker was seriously injured. The worker had been riding on the side of a moving harvester trailer with his legs dangling over the edge when his foot was caught and he was dragged under the trailer's wheels, suffering a liver laceration, collapsed lungs and several fractures. A magistrate found the company and directors guilty of failing to ensure workers' safety, fining the company $65,000 and each director $5,000. They appealed, arguing among other things that the magistrate had not properly applied the legal tests. The District Court agreed the magistrate had failed to mention the criminal standard of proof, but after conducting its own review of the evidence it was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the company and directors were guilty. The court found that simply giving verbal instructions was an inadequate safety measure. All three appeals were dismissed.
Incident & injury
Worker sat on the side of a moving pineapple-harvester trailer with legs dangling; his right foot was pushed under the dual wheels and he was pulled underneath, suffering serious injuries
- Body regions
- Chest / thorax, Left shoulder, Right shoulder, Internal organs, Face
- Diagnoses
- high grade liver laceration involving multiple liver segments, bilateral hemopneumothoraces (collapsed lungs), right scapular fracture, left humeral shaft fracture, left infraorbital haematoma and preorbital and premaxillary soft tissue swelling
- Incident date
- 1 August 2022
- Location
- Tinana, Queensland (pineapple farm, 22 Cran Road)
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 23 April 2025
- Claim type
- Other
- Proceeding
- Appeal
- Plaintiff outcome
- N/A
- Occupation
- Pineapple harvesting business / company directors Manager
Outcome
Appeals by the company and its two directors against their convictions for category 2 offences under s 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 were dismissed. Although the magistrate erred by failing to expressly refer to the standard of proof, the District Court conducted its own review and was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants were guilty.
Key issues
Scocan Holdings Pty Ltd & Ors v Work Health and Safety Prosecutor [2025] QDC 56
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