A maintenance worker being crushed and seriously injured by a passenger bus wheel has been described by a court as a "fundamental failure" by the ACT government.
"There was a grave risk here that was so easily remedied," magistrate James Lawton said.
The worker, who the ACT Industrial Court heard could have been killed, was left with multiple fractured ribs and two partially collapsed lungs after spending a week in hospital.
"The ongoing trauma from this incident remains with me each and every day and I will never be the same person," he said in a victim impact statement.
"I hope no other person employed with TCCS will ever have to go through what I and my family have had to endure over the past two and a half years."
Following a WorkSafe ACT investigation, his employer, the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate, was charged with failing to comply with health and safety duties causing the risk of death or serious injury.
On Wednesday, the court heard the case was the first time a territory directorate had been prosecuted under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Present at sentencing proceedings to officially plead guilty on behalf of the directorate were Director-General David Pryce and Deputy Director-General Ben McHugh.
The incident
Agreed facts tendered to the court and footage played for the magistrate detailed how an "ad hoc" maintenance system led to the victim being crushed by a bus wheel in Belconnen in November 2021.
The victim and two other workers were "greasing the upper grease nipples of the kingpins" of a passenger bus' steering mechanism.
The investigation revealed there was no documented procedure for the maintenance task, which was carried out every few months while the bus was raised off the ground.
The undocumented method included a worker getting inside the wheel arch while another held the steering wheel at full lock.
The worker in the wheel arch would indicate visually and verbally when they were finished and free before the steering wheel could be turned again.
However, in this case, the worker in the driver's seat turned the wheel when he believed a man walking past in similar clothing was the victim safely out of the front arch.
Still trapped, the victim was crushed between the wheel and the body of the bus.
Crushing risk 'obvious'
In his impact statement, the man described being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, suffering through physical pain, personal difficulties, and being "a shell of the person I was prior to the accident".
Prosecutor Aaron Guilfoyle told the court the workplace risk of crushing "was obvious, easily identifiable and should have been known to the defendant".
"The potential consequences were extremely serious," he said.
The hazardous method that led to the accident, the court heard, was taught to workers on the job.
Mr Guilfoyle submitted the incoming fine for the territory directorate should sit somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000.
Defence barrister Steven Whybrow, who described the incident as a "terrible near tragedy", asked the court to consider a lesser financial penalty.
Mr Whybrow said the risk was "manifestly obvious" but noted it had not occurred regularly and it was not a case where it had been flagged but dangerous processes continued.
The government made immediate changes to eliminate the risk following the incident.
"It's just unfortunate someone had to be seriously injured before they took those steps," the magistrate said, noting the changes "weren't complex, burdensome or inconvenient".
Mr Lawton is set to deliver his sentence next month.
