The widow of a helicopter pilot who died after falling into a crevasse in Antarctica has lauded a magistrate's decision to find the Commonwealth government guilty of failing to prevent the accident.
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In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mary Macdonald said justice had prevailed after the ACT Industrial Court considered factors that led to Captain David Wood's "horrendous and prolonged death" in 2016.
Captain Wood was 62 when he stepped out of his helicopter and fell into a crevasse while completing a mission on the icy continent.
He was trapped in the ice for four hours until a search and rescue team could retrieve him, but he died of hypothermia a day later.
"In the event of any workplace death, families of victims are compelled to seek explanation, accountability and justice and it is vital to them that all of the organisations involved respond in such a way as to prevent such devastating loss of life or injury in the future," Ms Macdonald said in the statement.
"In the case of the preventable workplace death of Captain David W Wood in the Australian Antarctic, the judgement of December 6 has fulfilled that hope."
While the family would hold one another in grief once again after the verdict, it was grateful that justice had prevailed, Ms Macdonald said.
"It is our hope that this judgement will shine a spotlight on employers in both the private and public sectors and serve as a reminder to them that safety always comes first."
After Captain Wood's death, Commonwealth prosecutors pursued criminal charges against the Australian Antarctic Division - a division of the federal Department of Environment - and its contractor Helicopter Resources, who was his employer.
They faced three criminal charges each of failing to comply with work health and safety duties which exposed workers to serious injury or death.
Helicopter Resources was found not guilty of all three charges.
The Australian Antarctic Division was found guilty of two charges.
The three charges related to three separate flights, two conducted in December 2015 and one in January 2016.
Captain Wood, who was based at Davis Station, had been delivering barrels of fuel to fuel caches around the Antarctic territory when he fell into the crevasse.
ACT laws apply in the Australian Antarctic Territory, so the matter falls in the ACT court jurisdiction.
Acting Chief Magistrate Glenn Theakston recently handed down his decisions and found that there were measures the Australian Antarctic Division could have reasonably taken to mitigate risks and therefore breached its duty.
READ MORE:
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- Helicopter pilot David Wood died of hypothermia in Antarctica, inquest hears
- Environment Dept, Helicopter Resources in criminal trial over pilot's death in Antarctica
- David Wood death in Antarctica: government department, contractor charged
The prosecution case was that a series of steps, that must be completed prior to pilots undertaking the flights, failed to be correctly carried out.
The steps included analysis of potential landing zones, which defence lawyers argued pilots were under no obligation to abide with.
While Mr Theakston accepted this, he found this did not absolve the Australian Antarctic Division of responsibility for a pilot's safety in such circumstances.
He will, in future, hear further submissions from the prosecution and the Commonwealth before imposing a sentence.