Adelaide engineering firm convicted over apprentice's death

An Adelaide engineering firm has been convicted and fined in the Industrial Court over safety failings which led to the death of a teenage first-year apprentice.

Diemould Tooling Services had already pleaded guilty to breaching Section 19(1) of the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act 1986, in failing to ensure that an employee was safe from injury and risks to health while at work and was convicted and fined $72,000, after a 10% discount for its guilty plea.

SafeWork SA prosecuted after investigating the circumstances behind the death of 18-year-old Daniel Madeley, in 2004, when his dustcoat became caught on the unguarded spinning shaft of a horizontal borer at Diemould’s premises.

He was forcibly dragged into the machine and suffered what Industrial Magistrate Richard Hardy described as “catastrophic and overwhelming injuries”, to which he succumbed in hospital the next day.

The defendant’s plea was delayed by several years as it appealed unsuccessfully to the High Court on a point of law.

In delivering the penalty, Magistrate Hardy described the defendant’s culpability as “… close to being in the worst possible category” and that “… it was difficult to envisage a more aggravated offence. In my view, the defendant’s failures put it at a level which demands a particularly high penalty.”

SafeWork SA’s investigation uncovered “multiple failures” including the fact that the machine was completely unguarded, there were no interlock devices to prevent contact with dangerous moving parts, there was nothing to prevent accidental activation of the machine’s continuous run button, training and supervision were inadequate (Madeley was alone at the time of the incident), dangers of the borer were not identified and loose-fitting dustcoats should have been banned under a safe operating procedure.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Michele Patterson said the case is a sobering example of the worst that can happen when safety systems are neglected: “This tragic outcome would have been entirely preventable had the right safety checks been done and the appropriate control measures put in place.

“We urge all employers to heed the lessons from this case and be mindful of their obligations to their workers and others under the law, especially to their young workers, who we know are the most vulnerable in any workplace.”