QLD: Farmer Fined as Remotely Operated Tractor Goes Awry

Source: Safety Culture

A Rollingstone farmer has pleaded guilty in the Townsville Industrial Magistrates Court to failing to ensure workplace safety.

He was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay $3,029.10 in court costs after a worker was seriously hurt in a tractor-related incident in May 2009.

The court was told the worker tried to mount the tractor when the vehicle veered off course. He hit the gear lever and was run over.

The worker suffered a broken right leg as a result. He had to undergo surgery.

A Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation found that the tractor's design was modified to allow it to be controlled remotely during harvesting.

The new design did not provide any way to stop the tractor aside from physically getting on the vehicle while it was moving.