The Darwin crane company - A.M. Cranes & Rigging Pty Ltd - is due to appear at Darwin Local Court on Tuesday March 23 to battle two separate charges.

According to NT Worksafe, in February 2019, A.M. Cranes & Rigging instructed three workers to transport and position an electrical switchboard measuring 4500mm long and 2100mm high and weighing about 1.8 tonnes, into a new room at the Palmerston Police Station.

The workers - one hired from a different company - used a crane to lift the switchboard in the police station before it was placed onto four load skates.

NT Worksafe said while attempting to manually manoeuvre the switchboard over a cable pit covered by checker plate the switchboard "toppled backwards" pinning two of the workers between a close wall and the heavy load.

The A.M. Cranes & Rigging worker suffered "moderate" injuries after being freed by bystanders.

However, the worker employed by another company suffered serious head injuries and required emergency services personnel to rescue him.

An investigation into the matter by NT Worksafe, the regulatory body of the Northern Territory Work Health Authority, found: "A.M. Cranes & Rigging did not have a safe system of work in place despite the high risk of serious injury or death if the switchboard toppled."

"NT WorkSafe alleges A.M. Cranes & Rigging should have reasonably known the dimensions and centre of gravity of the switchboard meant the likelihood of the switchboard toppling was very high, and placing the switchboard onto load skates to move [it] increased the risk of it toppling." it said in a statement.

"NT WorkSafe will also allege the dimensions of the switchboard room in relation to the switchboard meant, workers manually manoeuvring the switchboard were always in its fall radius and at serious risk of being crushed or pinned if the switchboard toppled."

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