Cade Lucas
A Laverton North manufacturer has been fined more than half a million dollars for safety breaches that led to a number of workers being seriously injured.
Plastics moulding manufacturer A & J Australia Pty Ltd was fined a total of $545,000 in the Melbourne County Court on Thursday February 29 after pleading guilty to 16 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Among the incidents the company was fined for was in November 2020 when two people suffered serious burns after a worker tried to extinguish a fire with liquid that turned out to be unlabelled methylated spirits.
The court heard a mechanical engineer was using an LPG torch to melt plastic from the blades of a plastic granulator machine when it caught fire.
Despite having fire extinguishers and a fire hose nearby, the worker tried to extinguish the fire using an unlabelled container of clear liquid – which was later found to be methylated spirits – igniting a fireball causing severe burns to the worker and the sole company director.
The company was fined $75,000 for failing to provide a safe system of work; $250,000 for failing to ensure safe storage of substances; and $100,000 for failing to provide information, instruction and training.
On another occasion a worker suffered a head wound and concussion after part of a machine fell on his head.
The court heard that in November 2021, the machine operator had stopped a blow moulding machine to remove a blockage, when a part weighing approximately 40 kilograms detached and fell 2.3 metres onto his head.
A WorkSafe investigation found the company should have installed guarding to shield workers from hazardous moving parts and ensured the machinery remained in safe working condition.
The company was also fined $5,000 on charges of failing to notify WorkSafe of an incident and failing to ensure an incident site wasn’t disturbed, after a technician lacerated his finger in a machine and required surgery in July 2020.
A & J Australia also plead guilty to a further 10 charges of failing to comply with improvement and prohibition notices, for which they were fined an aggregate of $40,000.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said WorkSafe would continue to prosecute employers who fail to keep workers safe.
“To have one person injured is a terrible outcome for any workplace – but to have incidents like these happen three times is absolutely unacceptable,” Dr Beer said.
“Things like maintaining machinery in safe working order and ensuring workers have the training they need to work safely are not negotiable, and any employer who fails to meet these obligations is putting their workers at risk.”
