Iain Geddes Nye

Incident description:

On 14 November 2009, a fisherman sustained crush and tear injuries to his upper torso when clothing he was wearing became caught in a capstan winch.

The defendant, Iain Geddes Nye owned the vessel involved in the incident; the MV Galaxy. Mr Nye was in a joint venture fishing operation with the injured fisherman and skipper of the ship, Stephen May.

In the early hours of 14 November 2009 during fishing operations about 20 nautical miles east of Mooloolaba, Mr May had his arm severed and sustained broken ribs and a punctured lung after clothing he was wearing became entangled in the capstan winch on board the vessel.

The capstan winch has a rotating drum that operates using friction to hold rope wound onto it. The rope is drawn in and wound onto the drum under pressure. It is difficult to effectively guard the in-running nip point where the rope is drawn onto the drum.

The facts presented to the court revealed:

• Mr Nye and two other fishermen were jointly conducting a business or undertaking under a shared fishing agreement - an arrangement that is not unusual in the industry
• Mr Nye had an obligation to ensure the workplace health and safety of the two fishermen
• this obligation extended to the 'fit or fatigued, careful or careless, experienced or inexperienced' and those 'overconfident of their skills or simply foolish'
• Mr Nye had control over training and developing instructional materials
• there were inadequacies with respect to risk assessment, absence of safety switches, training and absence of discussion about the winch hazard
• while the risk was identified, risk management was virtually non-existent.'

As a result of the incident, Mr Nye conducted a proper risk assessment, installed safety switches and warning signage and provided additional training and instruction.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded not guilty in the Maroochydore Industrial Magistrates Court on 3 March 2011 to breaching s.24 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations.

The matter went to trial on 7 April 2011 resulting in the defendant being found guilty of breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 with no conviction recorded.

Industrial Magistrate, Mr John Hodgins fined the defendant $12 500 and ordered Mr Nye pay legal, investigation and court costs totalling $7673.50 with 12 months to pay. No conviction was recorded. Industrial Magistrate Hodgins acknowledged Mr Nye's poor health, age, lack of prior convictions, cooperation with authorities and limited financial capacity to pay.

Considerations for prevention:

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

Obligation holders must ensure that they exercise control over those safety matters that fall within their scope. The owners of fishing vessels may be liable for their failure to manage risks from hazards that fishermen are exposed to at sea, if they have failed to properly manage the risks from those hazards while the vessel is in port.

Safety instructions given to workers about not wearing loose clothing around moving parts on plant should be specific, clear and include information about the potential disciplinary consequence for non-compliance.

A number of serious injuries have resulted from entanglement hazards where loose clothing has been worn by people around moving parts on plant. This hazard should be carefully managed, particularly where it is not possible to eliminate the risks presented by the hazard.

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

• Health and safety information for aquaculture and fishing
• Safety alert - Capstan and windlass style winches
• Modifying plant, machinery and equipment
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Managing risk
• Training staff
• Plant Code of Practice 2005
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.