By Callum Ludwig
A now-defunct Yarra Junction automotive business has been fined for failing to adequately train and regulate the fatigue of their roadside assistance employees, which ultimately cost a cherished community member his life.
YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd was sentenced by County Court Judge Marcus Dempsey in the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday 27 September and ordered to pay $115,000 after pleading guilty to failing to provide and maintain safe systems of work and failing to provide information, instruction or training.
Yarra Junction resident and former Upper Yarra SES volunteer John Halls was employed by YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd, operating as one of RACV’s 350 sub-contractors providing roadside assistance, and was killed when he crashed into a tree after falling asleep at the wheel 89 hours into a 96-hour on-call shift, as found by an investigation. He had been working for 17 hours from his first call out in the morning prior.
RACV was previously convicted and fined $475,000 in the County Court on Thursday 16 December 2021 for their breaches.
Judge Dempsey said they both failed to provide even the minimal requirements for a safe system of work with respect to fatigue.
“In my view, this is an especially egregious situation since it’s inconceivable in this day and age that RACV managers would have been unaware of the significant hazard posed by fatigue,” he said.
“Indeed the RACV website has a significant body of literature devoted to the timely identification and management of fatigue-related risks to customers.”
In the year prior to his death in the early hours of 10 March 2018, Mr Halls had worked 21 alternating 96-hour shifts with Mr Robinson, the only other roadside assistance provider employed by YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd. It was an arrangement they had decided between themselves which Judge Dempsey said they ought never have been permitted to.
“Had they had any proper training or guidance from the RACV and or YJ Auto, it simply beggars belief that they would have chosen to work this way or equally so, that they would have been allowed to do so by a conscientious employer,” he said.
“This accused, though much smaller and not as well-resourced as its co-accused, had the face-to-face or more intimate relationship with its loyal, direct employees like Mr Halls and Mr Robinson. In some ways, it makes the company’s failures graver.”
Ownership of YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd was handed over to Brooke Hampton in December 2017 from her grandfather Dominic Pezzimenti with no previous experience in the industry, including the contract to provide emergency roadside assistance.
Judge Dempsey said nothing really changed in terms of the day-to-day operations of YJ Autos in the three months or so after Ms Hampton took the helm.
“It appears to me that a number of unsafe work practices developed at the ERA wing of Yarra Junction Automotive Repairs which had become entrenched,” he said.
“In that regard, I considered the accused company before me their breach to be one truly born out of neglect to examine further the practices that were already established. I do not find the accused acted with real indifference towards the safety of its own staff, but more out of lack of experience and taking comfort I suspect in the continuation of the established status quo.”
Mr Halls’ wife and daughter virtually attended the hearing, having provided victim impact statements to the court.
Judge Dempsey said Mr Halls’ death devastated his close-knit family, his wife of more than 50 years, his children, their partners, and his grandchildren.
“Their victim impact statements were powerful, moving, and make the point that his death was so needless, so preventable, and if anything good is to come from his passing, it ought to be that all employers are more conscious of the health and safety of those who loyally work for them,” he said.
“Mr Halls’ funeral venue was simply too small to hold all of those who came to pay their respects to him, the crowd spilled into the street. He was given a guard of honour by the local SES, fire brigade and police in recognition of the kind of selfless community-minded man he was.”
YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd ceased operations in late 2019, was deregistered in May 2021 and only reinstated after WorkSafe applied for it to allow prosecution to take place. YJ Auto Repairs Pty Ltd and Ms Hampton have no intention of resuming trading in the future.
In a release, WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said fatigue went beyond just feeling drowsy and led to physical, emotional or mental exhaustion that prevented people from functioning safely.
“It is unacceptable for workers to be pushed beyond their physical and mental limits day after day. As this case tragically highlights, managing fatigue can be the difference between someone going home at the end of their shift or losing their life at work,” she said.
“It is up to employers to manage work schedules, rostering and workloads to ensure workers have adequate rest and to make sure training and support on fatigue is available.”
