$50K fine after unguarded table saw tips over, cuts artery

In Queensland, a fabrication company has been fined $50,000 after an unguarded table saw tipped over, with the rotating blade causing serious injuries — including a cut artery.

The incident

The incident occurred on 30 January 2023. A business (‘the defendant’) in the fabrication of toilet and shower blocks employed workers who did this work at their warehouse premises, where there was a Triton Series 2000 Workcentre WCA201 with a Makita circular saw N5900B attached to it. This was used infrequently at the workplace as a table saw (‘the plant’).

The risk posed to a worker operating the plant had not been assessed by the defendant, who did not have a safe work procedure for it. Training in relation to using the plant had not been received by workers for the defendant, who had not seen its instruction manual.

At the workplace, a worker was fabricating a shower base that required the cutting of timber for the base. He asked another worker to assist him to cut the timber using the plant. The workers positioned themselves behind the plant, feeding the 3.2 m timber lengthwise into the operating saw blade, which was unguarded.

While feeding the timber in, the teeth of the saw blade grabbed the timber and rapidly propelled it forward while the plant moved backwards towards the workers. The rear leg of the plant folded in as this occurred and the plant tipped on its side to the ground. The rotating blade struck one worker’s buttocks and leg as the plant tipped over.

Transported to hospital, he was found to have sustained serious injuries to his leg, including a cut artery, multiple severed muscles, tendons and nerves, and a fractured fibula. He was hospitalised for two weeks and underwent numerous surgeries.

Investigation and sentencing

A Work Health and Safety Queensland investigation found that the safety guard was not attached to the plant as per the manual; that the left-hand rear leg of the plant was missing parts of the spring-loaded pin, which meant it could not be ‘locked’ into position; and that workers had fed the timber into the plant from the rear end when the plant was designed for it to be fed into the saw blade from the front.

Sentencing of the defendant took place in the Townsville Magistrates Court on 25 August 2025, for breaching section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), having failed to comply with its primary health and safety duty.

In sentencing, the breach was identified by Magistrate Mosch as being based on the failure to guard against the risk the plant posed to the workers. Mosch noted the deficiencies found during the investigation into the incident and the need for the penalty imposed to send a message to other employers — to ensure obligations imposed under the Act are subject to compliance; failure to do so, putting workers at risk of injury and having that risk materialise, is something that is to be denounced, Mosch outlined.

The defendant’s plea of guilty, cooperation with the investigation, and steps to update training and provide further safety procedures that occurred after the incident were taken into account. Also noted was that the defendant company had no prior history. A fine of $50,000 was imposed with no conviction recorded.

Image credit: iStock.com/stevecoleimages. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.