Reflections Cleaning Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 23 August 2008 a 62 year old man sustained injuries while operating a street sweeper.

The court acknowledged the worker was operating the street sweeper when the sweeper experienced a blockage. He placed his hand inside a moving impeller before it came to a complete stop. He sustained fractures to his left thumb index and middle fingers, requiring pins and plate fixation.

The court found Reflections Cleaning Pty Ltd held obligations under s.28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being the employer failed to ensure the health and safety of its employer.

The investigation findings presented to the court alleged the defendant fail to ensure the workplace health and safety of its workers or other persons was not affected by the conduct of its business or undertaking. 

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed the employer:

• failed to provide adequate training for their worker
• failed to conduct a risk assessment
• failed to adequately guard moving plant.

Court result:

The matter was heard ex-parte in the Southport  Industrial Magistrates Court on 1 October 2010 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations and was sentenced with no conviction recorded.

Industrial Magistrate Mr George Wilkie fined the defendant $35 000 and ordered investigation and court cost totaling $2271.60.

In reaching a decision the industrial magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to ensure the health and safety of its worker.

In deciding the penalty imposed Industrial Magistrate Wilkie took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any workplace health and safety breach, and cooperated with the investigation.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in the retail and wholesale industry where there is exposure to risks from moving 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 remain working correctly.

When deciding on and implementing control measures associated with the risk of moving plant, obligation holders should consider using adequate guarding to separate workers from the moving parts. Workers should also be provided with information, instruction and training on operating safely around moving parts.

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

• Retail and wholesale
• Health and safety information for retail and wholesale
• Managing risk
• Employer training options
• Training staff
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.