A crane driver has been sentenced following the 2016 workplace death of a colleague at the University of Canberra Hospital construction site.
Michael Watts was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, reduced to 12 months after a 40 per cent reduction for an early guilty plea and cooperation.
The 12-month sentence will be wholly suspended.
The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless conduct exposing people to serious injury or death in February, which is a category one offence under the Work Health Safety Act 2011.
Watts was driving a mobile crane at the Bruce construction site in August 2016, when it rolled and killed Herman Holtz.
The 62-year-old was killed instantly.
Watts was originally charged with manslaughter, but this was abandoned when he agreed to provide evidence and plead guilty to the lesser offence.
Worksafe ACT charged Watts, along with eight other parties in April 2018.
Following the handing down of the sentence, ACT Work Safety Commissioner Greg Jones said it was a strong reminder workplace safety must be the number one priority.
"Every supervisor, manager and director on any work site must continually review and mitigate workplace risks. They also need to ensure their workers understand and follow all safety systems and procedures so they can do their job safely," he said.
"The consequences and penalties for failing to meet safety obligations and responsibilities are far too high to be complacent."
The maximum penalty for the category one offence is $300,000 and five years imprisonment, or both.
