Markaysie Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 22 May 2010, a 17 year old apprentice butcher sustained injuries when he received a blade strike while operating a bandsaw, resulting in amputation of his left thumb at the base of the nail.

Markaysie Pty Ltd operated the butcher's shop at Rochedale. It employed a working director, one qualified butcher and an apprentice butcher.

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

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed:

• the bandsaw was not isolated to prevent use by untrained workers
• the manufacturer's instruction booklet stated it should be isolated to prevent unauthorised use
• the worker received only limited supervised instruction in operating the bandsaw
• the defendant's director stated that the worker was instructed not to operate the bandsaw unless the director was present and supervising him, however this was allowed to happen in the director's absence.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Beenleigh Industrial Magistrates Court on 13 December 2011 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 Trevor Arnold fined the defendant $25 000 and ordered investigation, professional and court costs totalling $2874.60.

In reaching a decision, the industrial magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to ensure the health and safety of its worker in that it relied on an administrative control (work instruction) to control the risk to workers operating the bandsaw. Industrial Magistrate Arnold observed that the adoption of administrative controls was the lowest order in the control hierarchy and it was more appropriate to adopt a higher level control, for example, the use of 'isolation'.

In deciding penalty, Industrial Magistrate Arnold took into account the defendant was no longer operating as the director of the company and was suffering a medical condition as a result of the incident and the subsequent loss of the business. He acknowledged the director had a young family to support. In relation to the defendant, he noted it had not been prosecuted previously for any workplace health and safety breach, had cooperated with the investigation and entered a plea of guilty, which resulted in a costs saving to the complainant and public in not having to conduct a trial hearing.

Considerations for prevention:

(Commentary under this heading is not part of the Court's decision.)

When deciding and implementing control measures associated with the risk of blade strikes, obligation holders should consider manufacturer's instructions which advise that plant should be 'isolated' to prevent unauthorised use. Also, young workers and untrained staff should be supervised to prevent them from accessing equipment that is inherently hazardous if not used properly.

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

• manufacturing industry
• health and safety information for manufacturing
• young workers
• meat and meat processing
• health and safety information for meat processing
• meat retail industry
• managing risk
• employer training options
• training staff
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2011
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011.