A scrap metal recycler in Tottenham has been fined $40,000 after a contractor’s arm was caught in a machine which had the guarding removed.
Manhari International Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Sunshine Magistrates Court on Friday, April 12, after pleading guilty to two charges of failing to ensure a workplace under its management or control was safe and without risks to health.
Worksafe said the company was fined without conviction and also ordered to pay costs of $4132.
In August, 2021, a contractor was operating a shredding machine used to separate, compact and cut materials at the company’s Tottenham recycling plant, when he noticed one of two conveyor belts was stopping and starting.
As he knelt next to the conveyor, the contractor fell forward, touching the belt with his left hand which was dragged into the machine up to his elbow.
He suffered broken bones and skin loss, requiring multiple surgeries and skin grafts, and is unlikely to ever regain full use of his lower arm and hand.
A WorkSafe investigation then found that the factory-supplied side guarding had been removed from the conveyor, and that no guarding was in place, despite the risk of exposed rollers and rotating parts being identified in a risk assessment of the machine when it was installed in May, 2020.
The court heard it was reasonably practicable for Manhari International to reduce the risks by not removing the factory-supplied guarding, installing guarding over the running in nip-points on the two conveyor belts, and having a system of work that included a safe work procedure and required workers to ensure guards were fitted.
WorkSafe health and safety executive director Narelle Beer said anyone with control or management of a workplace had a duty to ensure that it operated safely – or risk prosecution.
“Safety guarding on plant and machinery is crucial to keeping everyone in the workplace safe and reducing the very real risk of death or serious injury,” she said.
“So it beggars belief that anyone would allow such a machine to operate without this in place.
“In this case a worker has suffered a traumatic and life-changing injury that sadly, could and should have been prevented.”
