SA sawmill fined over worker's head injury

A Mt Gambier sawmilling company was recently convicted and fined in the SA Industrial Relations Court over an incident in which a worker suffered a potentially-fatal head injury in 2006. SafeWork SA prosecuted after investigating an incident at the company’s sawmill.

McDonnell Industries had pleaded guilty to one count of breaching s19(1) of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 in failing to ensure the safety of an employee by keeping the plant in a safe condition.

A mill-hand was struck in the forehead by a flying offcut of timber, after helping to clear a blockage in the saw while it was still in operation. He sustained serious skull fractures and psychological trauma.

While some guarding was already in place and operating procedures displayed, the court was told there was a failure to guard against offcuts being forcibly ejected from the front of the machine, a failure to prevent access to the saw blades and other moving parts, and no safe work procedure devised for clearing blockages.

This was the company’s second conviction for a breach of workplace safety laws following an incident in 1993.

Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie fined the company $36,000, having discounted the penalty by 20% to acknowledge the company’s cooperation, contrition, early guilty plea and measures to improve safety since the incident.

SafeWork SA Executive Director, Michele Patterson said the case demonstrates the need to identify and control all hazards associated with workplace machinery to the fullest extent possible, “While there were some measures in place here, they simply didn’t go far enough.”