Defence contractor Thales Australia has pleaded guilty in a Victorian court to the death of a worker. 

Joe Kane, a painter at Thales Australia for 11 years, died on July 2, 2020, after a subframe from a Hawkei light protected mobility vehicle fell from its fixings and crushed him. 

Kane’s partner, Jackie Robertson, spoke at the hearing and said that calling their children was the “most horrible and hardest thing I've ever done in my life”. 

ComCare, the federal work health and safety regulator, claimed that the accident occurred because safety operating protocols were not known or good enough. 

The court heard that the forklift operator had gone to get the forklift to move the Hawkei subframe, and another worker had undone the bolts holding the subframe to the paint positioner, placed it in the upright position, and moved on to another subframe. 

Moments later, the other worker heard “a loud bang” and saw Mr Kane on the ground underneath the subframe.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions stated that the incident occurred because Joe Kane was able to operate the positioner despite the four bolts having been removed. 

Prosecutor Samantha Holmes stated that locks to prevent the unbolted subframe from sliding off the positioner were readily available before the incident.

Appearing in court on behalf of Thales Australia, the company's defence lawyer, Amanda Dickens, said that Thales had taken the matter “very, very seriously” and acknowledged that the operating safety protocols were practicable at the time. 

Thales Australia has since introduced improvements to safety operating protocols, including an isolator that shuts off electricity to prevent the positioner from being moved, placing safety operating protocols near each machine, and a tether for the remote to operate the paint positioner, so that the worker cannot be within striking distance when turning the subframe.

The court heard that workers and health and safety representatives had raised the safety of the paint positioners with management, and the issue continued to remain on the group's agenda for future meetings. 

The company's lawyer could not say why the issue of lining up the base plate and the subframe, which was raised by workers, was not acted on.

Thales Australia has pleaded guilty to the charge, and the maximum penalty for the charge is a $1.5 million fine. The sentence is expected to be handed down by Magistrate Trieu Huynh at the beginning of June.