THREE employers have been fined a total of more than $50,000 by the Industrial Court of SA for machinery incidents which caused hand and arm injuries.
All three parties had earlier pleaded guilty to breaches of the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act 1986, in failing to provide safe systems of work, failing to provide plant in a safe condition, and in one case failing to provide adequate instruction and training.
Coromandel Valley Construction Enterprises was convicted and fined $26,000 over an incident in September 2007 at a Kingston Park construction site. A 19 year old male apprentice was working with a circular power saw when it kicked back and cut into his left forearm.
According to SafeWork SA, the apprentice had been instructed to hold the saw in one hand while using the other to secure the timber being cut. Additionally, the company had not carried out adequate hazard identification and risk assessment for the task.
Separately, Orrcon Operations was convicted and fined $22,400 over an incident in October 2007 at its O’Sullivan’s Beach manufacturing facility. The employee involved suffered injuries to three fingers of his right hand after they were caught in the unguarded chain and sprocket of a steel-milling machine during maintenance work.
While the company had put extensive safety systems in place, and the trapping point was not normally accessible, the company had failed to consider the accessibility of that point during maintenance.
In the third matter, Lane Brothers Printers was convicted and fined $9,000 over an incident in August 2007 at its Camden Park premises.
A female employee suffered a crush injury to a fingertip of her left hand whilst manually operating a book-stapling machine. A SafeWork SA investigation found the operator had access to the machine’s moving parts.
The company has since fitted a new and more effective guard, and completed and acted on a full risk analysis of the facility.
Add a comment