Company charged after crane collapse puts lives at risk

Sergi Australia Pty Ltd is facing two charges under section 26(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure that a workplace under its management and control was, so far as was reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.

The charges relate to the collapse of a mobile crane supplied by the company after pendant ropes used to manipulate an attached luffing jib failed during a lift.

It is alleged the company failed to provide pendant ropes in a serviceable condition and replace pendant ropes that were no longer in a serviceable condition, and failed to maintain a system of work in which pendant ropes were periodically inspected by a competent person.

The matter is listed for a filing hearing at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 13 July 2023.