A Queensland company has been fined $400,000 and slammed for not seeing the ‘obvious’ risks that led to the death of an apprentice in a horrific explosion.
Kyah McDonald, 21, died when he was ordered to de‑rim a metal drum in a bin room filled with flammable vapours at a Gold Coast Isuzu dealership in October 2022.
The apprentice diesel motor mechanic suffered burns to 90 per cent of his body in the fireball and was rushed by paramedics to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
He died later that day. Three other workers were injured.
James Frizelle’s Automotive Groupin Arundel was charged with failing to comply with its primary health and safety duty after the incident.
The business, which sold and serviced new and used Isuzu trucks and parts, was sentenced over Kyah’s death in Southport Magistrates Court after pleading guilty, the Courier-Mail reported.
In sentencing, Acting Magistrate Sarah Thompson said the risk was ‘obvious’ and ‘foreseeable’, and the steps to prevent the explosion were not complex.
The business also failed to provide adequate training and supervision, correctly store and label flammable liquids, or post safety signage in the areas where combustible liquids were stored.
Kyah McDonald was clinging to life with burns to 90 per cent of his body after an explosion at a car dealership that injured four people
Kyah McDonald (left) was remembered as a ‘kind and funny’ brother
Mr McDonald’s sister shared a heartfelt tribute to him (pictured) after he died following the explosion at the truck dealership
The business has since overhauled its safety practices, but Ms Thompson said those same ‘simple’ and ‘not burdensome’ measures could have easily been done before Kyah’s death.
In a tribute on the Queensland Workers Memorial to fatal workplace tragedies, his family said healing from the tragedy and heartbreak had been an extremely raw and unbearably painful journey that continued every single day.
‘There are so many tears, yet we look for ways to fill the emptiness and to find the same joy Kyah was always able to find in other people’s success and happiness,’ they said.
‘He was someone that people would gravitate towards. His energy was calming and playful. Younger children would attach themselves and play with him for hours. Animals would be trusting of him.
‘Adults would praise him and girls would dote on him.’
In 2016 Kyah started a school-based apprenticeship, working for his father’s building company as an apprentice carpenter and was fully qualified in 2021.
A passionate car enthusiast, he started his new apprenticeship at Isuzu in May 2022, just five months before his tragic death.
