A Sydney tree services company has been fined $70,000 after a worker suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was struck by a falling tree trunk during works at a residential construction site.
The NSW Industrial Court convicted General Forest Tree Surgeon Pty Ltd over the November 2022 incident in Elderslie, where employee Guven Simsek entered a drop zone while tree cutting was underway and was hit in the head by a section of trunk.
The family-run business, operating since 1983 and employing five full-time workers, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with its work health and safety duty and exposing workers to the risk of death or serious injury.
The court was told the company had been engaged to remove and prune trees, including a 10-metre Celtis Australis tree, at the site.
Multiple toolbox talks were held on the day and workers were instructed to keep clear of exclusion zones while cutting took place.
Justice Ingmar Taylor found witches’ hats had been placed around the drop zone but there were no physical barriers, no signage warning workers to stay out, and no designated spotter monitoring the area when the most dangerous work began.
Around lunchtime, an experienced arborist began “step cutting” the large tree, a process involving cutting and manually breaking off sections of trunk before dropping them to the ground below.
He warned workers to stay clear and had limited visibility while working.
Shortly before the incident, he noticed Mr Simsek was not wearing his helmet and told him to put it on.
About five minutes later, Mr Simsek walked past the witches’ hats and into the drop zone without permission or any work-related reason to be there. He was looking down when a section of trunk fell from above and struck him in the head.
He sustained head trauma and was later diagnosed with a frontal lobe brain contusion.
The court was told Mr Simsek had worked for the company for less than four months and had no arboriculture qualifications, making it more likely he might fail to recognise the hazard.
Justice Taylor said the risk of a worker being struck by falling branches was clearly foreseeable and could have been mitigated through “straightforward and inexpensive” safety measures.
The judgment emphasised that employers must ensure safety even where workers are inattentive or disobey instructions, noting that verbal warnings are the “lowest order of control” and cannot replace physical safeguards.
The court found the offence fell within the lower to mid-range of objective seriousness, but the worker’s serious injury was an aggravating factor.
The company’s guilty plea, remorse and post-incident safety improvements were considered in the sentencing.
After the incident, the business engaged a safety specialist to overhaul its systems, introducing mandatory barriers and signage, requiring the site supervisor to act as a spotter, lowering branches with ropes and implementing annual external safety audits.
The company said it has had no further incidents since the changes were introduced.
The court ordered the company to pay a $70,000 fine, SafeWork NSW’s legal costs and directed that half of the fine be paid to the regulator.
