A fine imposed under workplace manslaughter laws after a 25-year-old subcontractor died in a forklift accident has been more than doubled on appeal. 

LH Holding Management, trading as Universal Stone and Marble, must now pay $3 million, up from the $1.3 million penalty set in the Victorian Supreme Court in February last year. 

The company pleaded guilty to a single charge of engaging in negligent conduct that constituted a breach of a duty owed to another person and caused their death. 

Sole director Laith Hanna was placed under a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to being an officer of a company that committed workplace manslaughter – a contravention solely attributable to his failure to take reasonable care, WorkSafe Victoria says. 

An appeal against 48-year-old Hanna’s sentence was dismissed. 

The subcontractor, Michael Tsahrelias, died when a forklift tipped and landed on top of him in October 2021. The truck was being operated by Hanna with a raised load on a sloping driveway.

The stonemasonry company was the first convicted under Victoria’s workplace manslaughter laws following a WorkSafe investigation. 

WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Sam Jenkin says the appeal result makes it clear workplace manslaughter is a serious criminal offence with severe consequences. 

“This young man’s death was a completely preventable tragedy – one entirely caused by the employer’s negligence and complete disregard for basic health and safety obligations,” he said. 

“While no penalty will ever make up for a life lost, [the] decision reinforces that WorkSafe – and the courts – will hold negligent employers accountable when they fail in their ultimate responsibility to protect the lives of their workers.”