Rose & Co Pty Ltd, a recycling operator in Shepparton, has been fined $35,000 following a serious explosion at their plant that resulted in six employees sustaining injuries, two of whom were airlifted to the Burns Unit at the Alfred Hospital for treatment.
Rose & Co recycle various items including fire extinguishers, LPG and acetylene bottles and aerosol cans to recover scrap materials. Items are sorted into type then loaded onto a conveyor that takes them into a shredder, with shredded materials and liquid contents caught in a bulk container below the shredder.
In May 2023, while one employee was transporting materials to the shredder and another was clearing scrap from below the shredder, there was an explosion causing a fire in the shredder. Employees used fire extinguishers to douse the fire.
There were approximately 14 employees onsite when the explosion occurred, with six employees sustaining injuries. Two injured employees were airlifted to the Burns Unit at the Alfred Hospital for treatment of significant burn injuries. The other four were treated at a local hospital for superficial burn injuries.
WorkSafe investigated at the site and found –
- the fire had spread from the shredder in a radius of up to 18 metres
- almost all cans fed onto the conveyor belt remained pressurized
- the aerosol cans were marked with the warning “empty to recycle”
- there was no forced ventilation equipment near the shredder
- although the shredder was outside, the adjoining workstations were covered by canopies which restricted air movement around the shredder. The stacks of IBCs to the south of the shredder also formed an effective wind break that reduced air movement around the shredder
Further investigation revealed that the shredder risk register identified fire as a hazard when the shredder is in use, the gas detection device at the site was not used, there had been previous fires in the shredder with no improvements following, and adequate training had not been provided to employees.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria
