KML Auto Electrics fined after the death of 18-year-old apprentice Darby Paxton

KML Auto Electrics last month was ordered to pay the fine following the death of 18-year-old Darby Paxton in January 2020.

According to the court, the teenager had only 18 days experience in the auto-electrical industry, which included two weeks work experience while he was completing high school.

At the time of Mr Paxton's death it was his eighth day on the job, and had not started his TAFE apprenticeship, having enrolled to begin in March 2020.

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The company's early plea of guilty saw the fine reduced by 25 per cent from $500,000 to $375,000. However they were ordered to pay $32,600 in prosecution costs.

Mr Paxton and another mechanic Kurt Michael Lew were working on an electrical repair on an Isuzu tilt cab truck, which ultimately led to tragedy, the NSW District Court heard.

The court found the truck had been raised appropriately by Lew, but he did not manually install or inspect the lock pin that would have kept the cab in a raised position.

The truck was raised on its cab tilt stay system, but the court found the lock pin had not been pushed into the stay arm to prevent it from folding.

On January 15, 2020 Lew and Mr Paxton were working on the truck when the mechanic was called to fix a truck that had broken down about 40 minutes from the garage.

Lew told Mr Paxton to finish bolting lights on a trailer, before he left to attend the call-out.

Mr Paxton finished his allocated tasks and continued working beneath the truck's raised cab, when he accidently brushed the leaver, causing the vehicle to fall on top of him and crush him.

Lew returned to discover Mr Paxton stuck under the truck, and called for help from a worker from a nearby business.

The pair managed to retrieve Mr Paxton from underneath the engine area of the cab. Emergency services arrived however were unable to revive the teenager at the scene.

KML Auto Electrics was taken to the NSW District Court by SafeWork NSW and sentenced on Friday.

The death of the young apprentice had taken a heavy toll on his family, court documents revealed.

"The heartache that Darby's family endures is unending, unrepentant and devastating," Judge Wendy Strathdee said in her judgement.

"The family now cannot get together to celebrate any milestone event as the absence of Darby makes it unbearable. Their grief is oppressive."

Mr Paxton's mother had been unable to continue work as a nurse because of the trauma, and his father was "tortured" he was unable to protect his son or be with him when he died.

Judge Strathdee offered her condolences to the family, noting Mr Paxton was "an adored and integral part of his family".

"The risks were so obvious and the potential consequences catastrophic. That is a message that needs to be made very clear to all industries, not just motor repairs, that a blatant disregard for the safety of a vulnerable worker will not be tolerated," she said.

"I have no doubt that the family and friends of Darby will feel that my sentence is inadequate, and that it does not address Darby's terrifying death, their own losses and the suffering that they continue experience.

"It is trite to say that no monetary sum can ever compensate loved ones who have lost their precious son and brother."