Finding into death of Charles Clarence Howkins
Deceased
Charles Clarence Howkins
Demographics
34y, male
Date of death
2018-03-21
Finding date
2025-02-13
Cause of death
Head injury
AI-generated summary
Charles Clarence Howkins, a 34-year-old labourer, died from head injuries sustained in a trench collapse at a construction site on 21 March 2018. The coroner found that Pipecon Pty Ltd failed to provide a safe workplace, with unsafe work practices directly causing the death. The company was subsequently convicted of breaching occupational health and safety legislation. Expert evidence confirmed the rescue operation using an excavator was appropriate and did not contribute to the death. The coroner determined the death was preventable had proper safety measures been implemented. This case underscores the critical importance of employers ensuring statutory compliance with health and safety duties, particularly in high-risk trenching work involving excavated areas.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- Unsafe work practices by Pipecon Pty Ltd
- Failure to provide safe workplace
- Inadequate workplace safety measures for trenching work
- Failure to implement required safety procedures for high-risk excavation work
Full text
Related cases
Source and disclaimer
This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.
Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.
Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —