Jib crane tumble carries $35,000 fine

A Victorian tiling company was fined $35,000 for an incident in which a newly installed jib crane detached from the ground while lifting two 220 kilograms slabs of stone. Although no one was injured, the company was found to have contravened the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) as it failed to provide a safe system of work (WorkSafe Victoria v Skill Tiling Pty Ltd [2025]).

The company, Skill Tiling Pty Ltd, has a business involving re-tiling, installing stone slabs, and providing other stone and tiling products and services.

In early May 2023, one of the company directors installed a jib crane at the factory. The crane was not commissioned, and the director was not trained or qualified in the installation or commissioning of jib cranes. The director failed to test the crane in accordance with the relevant Australian Standards, which required pre-operational and load operation testing and inspection. Further, the director failed to ensure that all bolts were installed and attached to the base plate, and the existing concrete slab was not assessed to ensure it was adequate for the purposes.

Two weeks after installation, a contractor was operating the crane to offload a pair of stone slabs from a delivery truck. Each slab weighed around 220 kilograms and was being suspended using a stone lifting attachment. As lifting commenced, the crane lifted up from the ground and tipped forwards, landing on the delivery truck in front of it. No one was injured, but a number of workers were in the vicinity.

A WorkSafe Victoria inspector attended the site the following day and observed that within the factory two other cranes had been correctly commissioned and certified by a competent person. However, there was no design installation information available for the crane that collapsed.

In prosecuting the matter, the Court heard that the crane failed as its anchors were pulled out of the concrete base. The Court found that the company should have engaged a competent person such as a structural engineer to determine the appropriate fastenings and size of the foundation, and then engaged a registered builder to install the crane.

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