Firm freed over pile driver death
Hutchinson Builders has been cleared of charges over the death of a workers at Hobart's McRobie Gully Tip.
Pile driver Ben Wicks, 32, was killed by a one-tonne steel beam in January 2013.
The webbing sling that moved and held the beam while it was driven into place snapped, causing it to fall onto Mr Wicks.
Other workers administered first aid, but Mr Wicks died soon after in hospital.
The construction company had pleaded not guilty to failing to provide safe systems of work.
Hobart magistrate Chris Webster dismissed the charges because Mr Wicks owned the equipment that killed him.
The hearing was told that Mr Wicks had been sub-contracted for the job because he was known as an experienced pile driver.
It was determined that the method used may have been his idea.
The magistrate also found that Mr Wicks was in an exclusion zone when the sling broke, which likely broke due to wear and tear.
Hutchinson was deemed to have had no control over the webbing sling or the exclusion zone, and that its lack of control was reasonable.