A pair of Australian companies recently were served with fines totaling $160,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries when his arm became trapped in a conveyor at a fertilizer factory.
According to information from WorkSafe Victoria, Incitec Pivot Limited and labor hire company Skilled Group Limited both pleaded guilty at the Geelong Magistrates’ Court to failing to provide a safe workplace. Incitec Pivot was convicted and fined $90,000 and Skilled Group received a similar conviction, fined $70,000.
The court heard that Skilled had sent its employee to Incitec’s factory at North Shore, near Geelong, in June 2011. The employee’s duty was to make sure that the conveyor belts carrying the fertilizer were operating efficiently.
But after less than one month on the job, the worker was injured when attempting to clear a build-up of fertilizer from a moving overhead conveyor belt using a shovel. When the man’s shovel got caught, his arm and shoulder were dragged into the conveyor, leaving him trapped and suspended for several minutes.
The court was told the worker suffered a serious and permanent injury to his left shoulder and was still recovering nine months after the incident.
‘Buddy System’ Failed
A WorkSafe investigation discovered it was not uncommon for employees at the factory to chip fertilizer off moving conveyors with shovels, hammers and crowbars. The court heard that Incitec had relied on a “buddy system” to train the injured worker.
But one of the man’s “buddies” also thought it was satisfactory to chip fertilizer off a moving conveyor, and another had only worked there for two weeks.
In her sentencing, Magistrate Ann McGarvie noted “A buddy system only works if your buddy is telling you the right thing to do. Here, that didn’t happen.”
In this case, the court heard it was unnecessary for the workers to chip off the fertilizer since that was supposed to be done during production breaks with the conveyors turned off. But nobody told the workers that or supervised them properly.
Labor Hire Company Did Not Verify Proper Safety
The court also discovered that the labor hire company Skilled had failed to determine the nature of the work its employee would be doing at the factory and it had not checked that Incitec had properly trained him for the job.
According to WorkSafe Regional Director Adam Rogers, employers had a legal obligation to provide a safe workplace.
“We hope this case serves as a wake-up call for employers, managers and supervisors to recognize their added responsibilities and make sure their risk assessment, training, and supervision practices reflect this,” Rogers commented.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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