Multiple hand injuries, $92K fine for manufacturer

Three separate incidents involving serious hand injuries have seen a Gippsland steel manufacturer fined $92,000.

AKZ Reinforcing Pty Ltd, now known as Retired AKZ Pty Ltd, was sentenced in the Latrobe Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was also ordered to pay costs of $15,836.

WorkSafe Victoria Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said the company’s careless approach to safety had resulted in three workers suffering serious injuries in as many years.

“The dangers associated with operating machinery that uses brute force to shape steel are obvious and employers undertaking this kind of work must ensure they are taking the safety of their workers seriously and doing all they can to reduce the risks,” Jenkin said.

“Workers are entitled to expect the machines they operate are safe and well-maintained, for safe systems of work to be in place and to have the supervision they need to do their jobs safely.”

In relation to an incident in November 2020, the company was fined $20,000 for failing to provide and maintain safe plant. The court heard a worker was positioning a bar on a machine used to bend steel when he accidently pressed the foot pedal, activating the machine and crushing his thumb. The worker lost the skin and flesh padding on his right thumb and required skin grafts.

AKZ was separately fined $32,000 for failing to provide and maintain safe plant and failing to provide adequate supervision after an inexperienced worker’s hand was caught in a bending machine he was operating alongside a co-worker in August 2021.

The worker, who had only worked on the machine a few times before, placed his hands on his workstation when the machine activated and his hand was caught on a drive roller, causing him to lose the tip of a little finger and suffer a severe crush injury to his ring finger.

AKZ was fined a further $40,000 for failing to provide and maintain safe plant and failing to provide safe systems of work after a worker was seriously injured by a machine used to bend or roll steel into circular or spiral shapes.

In February 2023, the worker was guiding a steel bar into the machine when his right hand was dragged through the roller, causing significant crush injuries including the loss of two fingertips.

Image credit: iStock.com/Vladimir Zapletin