VIC: Drivers faced unrealistic expectations: WorkCover

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-1999
VIC: Drivers faced unrealistic expectations: WorkCover

By Leigh Murray

MELBOURNE, Aug 11 AAP - A Victorian trucking company convicted today for poor safety
systems placed unrealistic expectations on its drivers who used amphetamines to keep their
jobs, the WorkCover Authority said.

A County Court judge fined Don Watson Pty Ltd $12,000 for failing to provide a safe system
of work, the first such prosecution in Victoria.

WorkCover spokesman Brendan Wood said the conviction was a warning to all industries about
the importance of ensuring a safe workplace.

"Providing a safe workplace doesn't just mean having the right equipment or the right
maintenance," Mr Wood told reporters.

"Undue pressure or unrealistic expectations on workers is just as dangerous and I think
that's been proven today."

Don Watson Pty Ltd operations manager Pierce Phillip Gage, 42, of Bacchus Marsh, was fined
$3,000 today without conviction after pleading guilty to a charge of failing to take
reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and other employees.

The charges arose after Shayne David Hodge ran off the road at Upper Plenty while driving a
Don Watson truck on September 11, 1994, killing one of his two passengers.

"I think we've found today that what's been happening was that there were too many
expectations, too many unrealistic expectations, on the drivers," Mr Wood said.

Judge John Hassett today said that at the time of the offences drivers were placed on less
financially attractive routes if they failed to meet timetables for longer jobs.

Judge Hassett said this tempted them to drive excessive hours and they "were likely to use
amphetamines to combat fatigue".

He said in 1994 the company had failed to install a system by which they could collate the
records of drivers and ensure they didn't drive excessive hours.

However, he said when authorities raised the problem with the company they promptly put in
a place an improved system.

Judge Hassett said the case was not about the company abetting drivers to drive excessive
hours or to take drugs.

Don Watson Pty Ltd operates from Bacchus Marsh west of Melbourne and Wodonga in northern
Victoria.

Last week prosecutor Tom Gyorffy said some drivers were expected to drive for more than 14
hours in a 24-hour period, despite regulations stating they could only drive for 12 hours a
day.

Mr Gyorffy said to complete jobs drivers had taken to a strategy of using amphetamines,
speeding and not completing log books accurately.

Yesterday, the driver in the 1994 accident, Shayne Hodge, now 32, was fined $2,500 in the
Melbourne Magistrates Court and had his licence suspended for six months after pleading guilty
to charges including careless driving, using amphetamines and 27 offences relating to
exceeding driving times, failing to have rests and making false logbook entries.

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