07:16 pm, Friday 5 February, 2010

A packaging company has been fined by the Industrial Court on Monday over two work-related injuries in a span of four days.

Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke has ordered Detmold Packaging Pty Ltd to pay a fine of $26,400 for the first incident and $22,500 for the second. He also ordered that copies of the decisions be given to all the Brompton-based company’s workers.

Two employees had their hands trapped in unguarded machinery in two separate incidents on September 2007.

On 7 September 2007, a 36-year-old man suffered hand injuries when he tried to remove loose paper from a printing machine. As he was doing so, his hand made contact with the moving rollers of the machinery.

Magistrate Lieschke heard that the machine guard had been removed for cleaning, but was not replaced after.

The dangerous practice was already identified ten months prior to the incident, when a formal safety analysis was conducted. However, the company did not do anything to interlock the guard to cut the machine’s power when removed.

In the second incident four days later, a female worker suffered a hand injury was attempting to remove loose paper from a heat operated shrink wrapping machine.

SafeWork SA argued that inadequate guarding was likewise a key factor in this incident. The workers had not been made aware of safe operating procedures for the machines in both instances.

SafeWork SA says the cases is another reminder of the hazards of unguarded machinery.

“Thousands of injury claims are lodged each year in SA as a result of inadequately guarded machinery,” says Executive Director, Michele Patterson.

“Solutions such as guards and lock-out devices, as well as good safety training are crucial to preventing such harm, but we need workplaces to heed the message and enact these measures before someone gets hurt, not after the event.”

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