Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Limited

Incident description:

On 10 July 2008 a 60 year old worker sustained serious injuries to his left wrist and arm.

The court acknowledged Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Limited owned the plant and employed the injured worker as a plant operator.

The court found the defendant held obligations under s.28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being a person conducting a business or undertaking.

The incident occurred while three workers were involved in removing a dust collector bag that was caught in the rotary valve of the baghouse. To remove the dust collector bag, the guard was removed providing access to the rotary valve. While the worker that was injured was accessing the rotary valve, the electrician reversed the contacts of the motor, activating the motor of the outfeed screw, instead of the rotary valve motor. When the motor for the outfeed screw was activated the worker's left arm and wrist were injured when they became caught in the rotating outfeed screw.

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed:

• the workers were not provided with adequate instruction, training and supervision for the task of removing the dust collector bag
• a risk assessment in relation to the hazards associated with this task was not carried out
• illogical location of the isolation switches in relation to the relevant drive motors.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Gympie Industrial Magistrates Court on 15 September 2009 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations.

Industrial Magistrate Mrs Maxine Baldwin ordered the defendant pay a penalty of $35 000 as well as investigation and court costs totaling $1898.63.
In reaching a decision the Industrial Magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to isolate the correct motors.

In deciding the penalty imposed, the Industrial Magistrate, taking into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any other workplace health and safety breaches, had cooperated with the investigation and had entered an early plea of guilty, sentenced the defendant with no conviction recorded.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in the manufacturing industry where there is exposure to risks from unguarded moving parts of plant, obligation holders should apply a risk management approach to ensure the selection of suitable control measures.

Risk management involves evaluating the consequences and likelihood of harm that may result from the hazard, deciding on and implementing control measures to prevent or minimise the level of the risk from the hazard and monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they continue working correctly.

When deciding on and implementing control measures associated with the risk of exposure to unguarded moving parts of plant, obligation holders should consider the implementation of appropriate isolation procedures, ensuring all workers that may be exposed to or work with the plant are fully trained and aware of all procedures.

Obligation holders should consider conducting risk assessments of all work areas and plant to establish any risk that may be associated with the plant and the workplace environment.

Visit the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website for more information on:

• health and safety information for manufacturing
• modifying plant, machinery or equipment
• employer training options
• training staff
• managing risk 
• Plant Code of Practice 2005
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.