An elite private school has been fined $140,000 after a worker was killed while pruning trees on the school grounds.
Kym Page, 38, was not wearing a safety helmet when he died from head injuries at Haileybury College on Valentine’s Day 2018.
It was believed a large eucalyptus branch struck and killed Mr Page, who had worked at the college since 2002, while he was pruning trees at the Berwick campus in Melbourne.
No one witnessed the tragedy but a branch and two chainsaws – one still running – were found near his body, a court was told.
On the day he died Mr Page had spoken with his fellow worker Ben Carter and grounds manager Dale Goodman about a large tree branch he and Mr Carter had spotted hanging out of a tree following strong winds overnight.
The tree was in an “out of bounds” area of the school grounds, near a creek. Mr Goodman had told them not to touch it, court documents stated.
The court was earlier told the school had a tree management plan that detailed the manna gum that fell on Mr Page had been assessed in 2013, 2016 and 2017 as “posing a risk of further branch failures”.
The plan recommended foliage not be removed or anyone stand underneath it, court documents stated.
Haileybury employees working at the Berwick campus had also provided evidence that they were not informed of the risks associated with cutting tree branches with chainsaws.
xjmtzywHaileybury College earlier pleaded guilty to failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work and failing to provide information, instructions and training to its employees.
In handing down his ruling at Victoria’s County Court on Monday, Judge Frank Gucciardo said Mr Page’s wife Catherine Agrotis felt like a “depleted person” after the incident.
Ms Agrotis had earlier told the court of the harrowing phone call she received from the school on the day of her husband’s death and said his passing defied “logic and sense”.
Judge Gucciardo said the school had an “appreciation” of the risk trees had on its campus.
“They failed to put in a system to not only manage the risk but more importantly deal with the hazards of the work to be performed on the trees,” he said.
Prosecutors submitted that Haileybury’s offending could be characterised as a lack of appreciation of a risk that it should have been aware of.
Judge Gucciardo said the college continued to pay Mr Page’s wage for three years so his wife could continue to provide for her children.
“I accept given their plea of guilty means they (Haileybury College) are remorseful,” he told the court.
The school was fined $140,000.
