SA company fined over crush injury

Stratco (SA), a manufacturer of sheet metal products, was convicted and fined in the South Australian Industrial Court over an incident that led to a worker injuring his thumb in a machine. The company pleaded guilty to one count of breaching section 19(1) of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 in failing to provide and maintain plant in a safe condition.

The incident happened in late 2006 as a worker sought the assistance of a colleague to fold a long piece of sheet metal in a fabricating machine. With both workers at the machine, one had the tip of his thumb caught during an attempt to adjust the metal, which had slipped from the clamp and jaws. The injury was minor and the employee returned to work the following day.

Despite extensive safety measures already on the machine concerned and within the general work practices of the employer, the court heard that a lack of adequate training for the machine operator was the major cause of the incident.

A SafeWork SA investigation also revealed that a light curtain, which normally detected the presence of someone at the machine, could not detect a person already standing within the danger zone as the machine was reset for another operation.

The company has since remedied these measures and the sheet metal product was re-engineered to eliminate the need for that particular type of processing.

This was the company’s second offence after a crush incident in 2005 and, as such, was liable for a maximum penalty of $200,000. However, Magistrate Michael Ardlie described the circumstances as “quite unique”, stating: “Whilst not unforeseeable, they are at the extreme end of foreseeability given what the defendant had done regarding the safe operating procedure of the machine and regarding the normal or usual operation of the machine.”

He recorded a conviction and fined the company $24,000, discounting the penalty by 20% to acknowledge its early guilty plea, cooperation, contrition and remedial action.