The owner of a Queensland pineapple farm has been cleared of all charges after a young worker was electrocuted in a workplace incident in 2021.
Cody Smith, 25, died when he was working near a harvester that came into close contact with a sagging power line on July 14, 2021.
The property was a farm for Lake Mary Pines, located in Bungundarra near Yeppoon, 50 kilometres from Rockhampton in central Queensland.
Colin Martin Stevens and his son, Nathan Luke Stevens, are two of three members of the family trust for Lake Mary Pines.
After an investigation by Queensland’s industrial governing body, Work Health and Safety (WHS), the pair were both charged with one count each of failure to comply with the electrical safety duty owed by a person conducting a business or undertaking.
Colin Martin Stevens (left) and Nathan Luke Stevens were charged with failing to comply with an electrical safety duty. (ABC Capricornia: Katrina Beavan)
The matter went to a trial in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court in 2023.
In March 2024, Magistrate Cameron Press ordered the pair were both not guilty and the charges were dismissed.
In August 2024, WHS filed an appeal to the District Court against the Magistrate’s order.
In February this year, Judge Jeffrey Clarke cleared Colin Martin Stevens but allowed the appeal for Nathan Luke Stevens, and he was found guilty.
Nathan Luke Stevens appealed the newest guilty charge, with a hearing held in Brisbane on September 19.
Details of the incident
According to the court documents detailing the day of the incident, farm workers were picking and loading pineapples onto the boom of a harvester.
As the harvester moved, it came in direct or close contact with the overhanging power line.
Six workers sustained electrical shocks, including Mr Smith’s fatal strike, while three others escaped without shock.
Cody Smith was electrocuted while working on a pineapple farm near Yeppoon in July, 2021. (Supplied: Facebook)
The farm workers tried to resuscitate Mr Smith.
Three of the workers, including Nathan Stevens, were taken to hospital by ambulance.
The court documents further detail there had been heavy rainfall the day before and it was still wet on the day of the incident.
The high-voltage overhead power line was measured to be 4.52 metres above the ground, while the harvester was 4.36 metres in height.
According to the court documents, the power line was usually 7.8 metres above the ground.
Police were on the scene doing inital investigations. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
The court documents reference conjecture about comments made that the power line was hanging low in the days before the incident.
An investigation found a stay wire on a supporting pole to the power line had failed or completely broken apart.
It had been checked by Ergon Energy in the previous year (September 2020) and corrosion was recorded but replacement was deemed not necessary at the time.
Ergon Energy were also charged over the death, with one count of failing to comply with a category two electrical safety duty, exposing an individual to a risk of death, serious injury or illness.
The company was fined $300,000 in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court in 2023.
Judge’s order
Judge Lincoln Crowley has delivered a judgement to allow Nathan Luke Stevens’s appeal to set aside the orders of the District Court judge and confirm the Magistrate’s first finding of not guilty.
This clears Nathan Luke Stevens of all charges.
Judge Crowley wrote: “It is uncertain when the power line sagged to the height that it was at the time of the incident.”
WHS were ordered to pay court costs.
