Logan Moulders Pty Ltd

Incident description:

A worker was fitting tooling for a plastic blow moulding machine. The worker fitted the tooling that carries the plastic to the heads on a blow moulder and then fitted the blow pins. The worker was standing on a mesh guard inside the machine with the interlocked guards closed behind him (this allows the moulds to open and close which is necessary to align the pins). When this was done, the worker started purging the machine and straightening the plastic (this process required that the moulds be open). Between these two tasks, the worker did not lock-out the mould close button or turn off the hydraulic pump. The worker then stripped away the plastic as it came through by putting his hand between the moulds. While doing this the moulds closed on his hand.

Investigation findings:

If the isolation switch that operates the hydraulic pump had been locked-out, the clamps would not have closed on the injured worker's hand when another worker inadvertently pressed the separate operating button. The use of the lock-out switch was not enforced in this instance such as to ensure workers' body parts could not be inadvertently crushed in between the clamping moulds.

Considerations for prevention:

Since the incident the defendant has developed:

• a new mould change process to include lock-out/tag-out
• new guarding to fully guard against the moving parts.

Obligation holders should consider the requirements of section 27A of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 which outlines obligations relating to risk management. They should also consider the requirements of the Plant Code of Practice 2005, in particular part 1.16 Guarding, part 5.7 Plant with moving parts and part 5.22 Instructing, training and supervising workers. Australian Standard 4024 Safety of Machinery should also be considered.

Court result:

The company was fined $32,000 with no conviction recorded.

• Guide to machinery and equipment safety (PDF, 400kB)
• Information about the safe use of plant