A Wangaratta County Court judge has convicted and fined a Keysborough warehousing and logistics company and its sole director more than $1.4 million following the fatigue-related death of a delivery driver in the North East.

Onkar Group Pty Ltd, trading as Bakeology, and its 48-year-old male director were sentenced in the Wangaratta County Court this week after earlier pleading guilty to five charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The company was convicted and fined $1.1 million for recklessly placing a person at a workplace in danger of serious injury, and an aggregate $250,000 for failing to provide a workplace that was safe and without risks to health and failing to ensure people other than employees weren't exposed to risks to their health or safety.

The director was convicted and fined $80,000 for being an officer of a company that failed to provide a workplace that was safe and without risks to health and failed to ensure people other than employees weren't exposed to risks to their health or safety.

The court heard the driver was 12 hours into an overnight shift delivering baked goods to Albury and various locations in the region when his van drifted into the path of an oncoming truck at Kialla West, south of Shepparton, in August 2022.

The 27-year-old driver died as a result of the collision, while the truck driver was unharmed.

A WorkSafe investigation found that prior to the incident, the driver had completed the same 796km delivery run for 17 consecutive nights, most including shifts exceeding 12 hours, without adequate breaks of time to rest and recover between shifts.

It was reasonably practicable for Onkar Group and its director to reduce the risk of serious injury or death.

It was also necessary for the company and its director to provide the driver with information about the causes, signs, symptoms and identification of fatigue, as well as instruction and training in the prevention of fatigue, including the need for breaks with continuous rest periods.

WorkSafe chief health and safety officer Sam Jenkin said every motorist should be able to trust that those working behind the wheel weren’t being pushed beyond their mental and physical limits.

"Driver fatigue puts workers and the general public at serious risk, and the consequences can be even more devastating when vehicles collide with other motorists or dwellings," he said.

"This incident is a tragic example that shows how setting realistic workloads and safe policies can be the difference between a worker going home at the end of the day or tragically losing their life."

An adverse publicity order was also issued by the court requiring Onkar Group to publicise the offence, its consequences and the penalty imposed in an industry publication.