Fosters receives $1.125m OHS fine

Fosters Australia has received a massive $1.125m fine for serious safety failings which led to the death of a worker at its Abbotsford (Melbourne) brewery in April 2006.

Presiding Judge Jane Campton said a reasonable employer would have foreseen the danger posed by the unguarded machine and taken steps to make it safer, but Fosters chose not to, with tragic consequences.

A 58-year-old Wantirna man was crushed between a handrail and the pneumatically operated door of a machine that takes bottles from pallets before they are filled. He died in hospital six days later.

Later safety improvements at the brewery cost $3.9 million.

Judge Campton said Fosters’ failings were at the higher end of the scale because there had been a similar incident on a near-identical machine nearly three and a half years previously.

Had it not been for the guilty plea, the fine would have been $1.5 million.

WorkSafe Victoria’s executive director, John Merritt, welcomed the fine but said the family was devastated.

“They’ve lost a husband and father who worked hard to give them the opportunities he did not have, but he won’t be there to enjoy his children’s success,” he said.

“The problem had been identified, someone had been hurt previously, the solution was known and it wasn’t fixed until after a man had died. The opportunities to make improvements were repeatedly deferred.”

Merritt said it was increasingly recognised that business was not just about making a return for investors.

“This company is successful and should be setting an example by ensuring the highest safety standards are maintained.

“With listed companies now in their ‘reporting season’, they have the opportunity to transparently report on their health and safety performance — for better or worse — and to identify what will be done in the future,” he said.