Working between two job sites – Are your staff travelling safely?

**In this article we are focusing on the fruit picking industry, but we encourage all businesses, regardless of industry, to review their processes if they have employees working across multiple work sites from a safety perspective.
 
In January 2022, two labour-hire fruit pickers at Cutri Fruit Pty Ltd's fruit orchard in Woorinen South fell off the rear of two trailers being towed by a tractor as it turned a corner on a public street between areas of the farm. While one worker was not injured, the second worker sustained head injuries and later died.
 
Whilst the trailers were not designed to carry people, the business was aware that orchard workers were riding on the platforms to travel to and from picking locations.
 
A number of messages were sent from the Director via Whatsapp to the pickers in the month prior to the incident warning them from riding on the picking trailers because it was dangerous and ordering them to stop doing so immediately but the messages were being ignored.  
 
The Court determined that the business should have done more than just direct workers not to travel on the pickers and it needed to show practical steps to prevent deliberate non-compliance. Further instruction was provided on how this could be done.
 
The business pleaded guilty for breaching the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 by failing to ensure persons other than its employees weren't exposed to health and safety risks which resulted in a $750,000 fine. The deceased worker's direct employer is also facing charges in relation to the incident.