Two men have been fined $15,000 for taking film from a Worksafe Inspectorand burying it with an escavator.

Mildura Magistrate Dan Muling today imposed the penalty after the men pleaded guilty to charges including assault and failing to comply with an inspector’s direction.

Worksafe Victoria executive director John Merritt said the case reinforced the message that the organisation’s inspectors must be allowed to do their job without interference.

“An inspector’s camera was taken from him and the film buried in a Mildura drainage project trench in February last year,” Mr Merritt said today.

The inspector had sought to photograph a roadside work site after first warning its operators that correct safety measures were not in place, posing a risk to motorists and workers.

Instead, the inspector’s camera was forcibly taken from him, its film removed and thrown into the ditch and an excavator used to bury it.

“WorkSafe’s inspectors play a vital role in community efforts to stop people being killed or hurt at work,” Mr Merritt said.

“We take seriously what we see as efforts to undermine their duties through physical means or intimidation.”

Peter Prostamo, 45, of Reservoir, was fined $6500 and ordered to pay costs of $8557, while Marcello De Frenza, 35, of Mornington Peninsula, was ordered to pay $1000.

Convictions were not recorded.