Printer fined over fifth workplace injury

SafeWork SA prosecuted Adelaide-based company OE & DR Pope after investigating an incident at its printing plant in 2007 - the company's fifth breach of workplace safety laws.

A 34-year-old male, employed as a machine operator, suffered crush injuries to three fingers of his right hand, which were caught between moving rollers. While he returned to work after three weeks, he suffered residual sensitivity problems and left the business in December 2007 for unrelated reasons.

The court was told that the operator had attempted to clean dry spots from a roller without stopping the machine and was able to gain access to the moving parts through a 70 mm gap in the guarding. The employee’s usual assistant wasn’t available, leaving him to perform two roles on the machine. The supervisor, who also should have been present, was elsewhere on the premises at the time.

In his decision, Industrial Magistrate Ardlie noted that the machine had replaced another involved in a previous injury, but that a risk assessment failed to identify the problem which ultimately occurred: “Whilst the defendant, prior to the incident, did assess the machine, installed a guard and introduced a standard operating procedure, the steps it took were inadequate.”

The court was told that this was the company’s fifth offence dating back to 1998 and all previous incidents resulted in similar injuries from similar circumstances.

Therefore, being a subsequent offence under the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act 1986, the defendant faced a maximum fine of $200,000. Magistrate Ardlie fined the company $40,000, discounting the penalty by 20% to acknowledge the company’s early guilty plea, cooperation with SafeWork SA, contrition and remedial measures which included improving the guarding on the machine involved and management changes.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Michele Patterson said the process of identifying and fixing hazards with machinery needs to be extensive in the first instance and then reviewed regularly, preferably with the help of employees experienced in operating the plant concerned.