Brick-making company fined over loss of worker’s arm

Midland Brick Company was found guilty of failing to provide a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee. It was fined $70,000 and ordered to pay $30,000 in costs in the Perth Magistrates Court.

In 2006, the labour hire employee was working in one of the Midland Brick factories, assisting an operator in ensuring that paving bricks were properly produced, including cleaning built-up product from the machinery.

When checking the material conveyor, the employee noticed that the machine was not working properly because product had built up around a roller. When he was in the process of cleaning the machine, it restarted and his right hand and arm were drawn into the pinch point of the conveyor, tearing his arm and shoulder from his body. There was no emergency-stop button or any other method of stopping the machine at the pinch point. The man staggered unaided to the control room.

The machine had numerous points where two moving parts met and created a pinch point into which hair, clothing or limbs could be drawn. Some of the guards were not adequately attached to the machinery and were held on with plastic cable ties, hung on clips or had missing bolts.

The factory’s employment documentation stated that workers should check that all guards on the machinery were in place prior to each shift. Despite this documented requirement, it was not supervised and Midland Brick had never ensured that workers were checking the guards and keeping them in place.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said that the case was a graphic reminder of the importance of guarding the moving parts of machinery: “It is obvious that a safe system of work in this factory for the guarding of machinery was at best hit and miss, and this created an extremely hazardous situation.

“Shortly after this incident, a contractor placed new guards on the pinch points of the material conveyor. It was practicable for Midland Brick to have made these changes before this incident could happen, which might have spared the worker a great deal of pain and suffering.

“Safe systems of work were actually documented by the company, but Midland Brick did not ensure that employees were following them, a real recipe for disaster. Documented safe systems of work are of absolutely no value unless they are actually put into practice and monitored.

“While investigating this incident, WorkSafe inspectors discovered more than 50 items of machinery that were not adequately guarded or had guards that were inadequately secured.

“Guarding of the moving parts of machinery is still one of the easiest and most obvious means of minimising the risk of injury to machinery operators, and I strongly urge employers in workplaces with machinery to ensure that it is safe to operate.”