Timber company fined after worker injured by unguarded machinery

A South Eastern timber processing company has been fined more than $26,000 by the Industrial Court after an employee was injured by unguarded machinery.

Whiteheads Timber Sales had already pleaded guilty to breaching Section 19(1) of the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act 1986 in that it failed to provide and maintain plant in a safe condition. SafeWork SA prosecuted after investigating an incident in December 2010 at the company’s premises near Mount Gambier.

On the day of the incident, a piece of timber became jammed in the in-feed section. As the employee tried to relieve the jam his fingers and hand became caught. He was off work for approximately three months to recover from crush injuries, but has since returned to normal full-time duties.

The court was told that while the company had a previous conviction for a safety breach, it was systematically working to upgrade the safety of its machines; however, Magistrate Michael Ardlie also heard that the problem with the machine in question had already been identified nearly a year before the incident.

“It is unfortunate that the machine was one of the last to be modified by the introduction of extended guarding and an interlock device,” he said in his decision on penalty delivered on 19 January.

He fined the company $26,250 plus costs following a discount of 25% to account for the early guilty plea, cooperation, contrition and remedial measures.

“Contact with moving parts is a major cause of workplace injury and insufficient guarding of moving parts has long been recognised as a key factor in such incidents,” said SafeWork SA’s Acting Executive Director, Marie Boland. “That said, identifying a safety shortcoming is only part of the solution and employers need to prioritise such issues and fix them as promptly as possible.”