A NSW car dealership has been ordered to spend $200,000 on improvements after a man was crushed to death by an improperly repaired vehicle.

In 2015, a horse handler was found crushed under the tailgate of a horse float that had returned from being repaired at Wagga Motors less than 24 hours before.

SafeWork NSW Executive Director Tony Williams said the man’s death was due to “a breakdown in a number of things”.

“We had what seemed like a rudimentary task of a horse float being repaired, but a lack of detail around some hydraulics on that trailer resulted in a risk being created, which led to Mr Jenkins … losing his life,” Mr Williams said.

Th man’s employer had taken the horse truck to Wagga Motors to have an oil leak in the hydraulic tailgate repaired.

The oil level in the hydraulic system became low during the repairs, so that it could fall to the ground when the locks on it were released.

The employer found his employee crushed beneath its rear gate in the early afternoon on December 23, after he had been asked to do some work on the truck.

District Court Judge Andrew Scotting has now found Wagga Motors failed to properly test the tailgate before returning the truck to Mr Triggs.

“The technician failed to bleed the line where the fluid is, and they didn't check the fluid levels to ensure the tailgate was operating as it should,” Scott Braid, dealer principal at Wagga Motors, said.

“It was fundamentally an oversight of instruction, and human error.

“Since then we've implemented specific procedures around hydraulic repairs … to ensure a catastrophic incident like this never happens again.”

SafeWork NSW has issued Wagga Motors with an ‘enforceable undertaking’, which listed several safety policies the company has agreed to implement as a result of the incident.

“Wagga Motors have really shown they've able to recognize they've had some failings, and have been committed to making sure that their safety systems are up to scratch,” Mr Williams said.

Mr Braid said the death “rocked Wagga Motors to our core”.

“It's led to fundamental changes, not only within our truck workshop but across our entire business,” he said.

The company will implement safety policies expected to cost a total of $200,000.

The dealership will also present a ‘lessons learnt’ safety workshop for truck dealers across the country this week.