Cryoquip Pty Ltd has received a $50,000 fine, with no conviction recorded, after an un-trained trades assistant had their right middle and index finger crushed while operating a pipe bending machine three months after another employee had suffered a similar injury.
The trades assistant had been assigned to bend lengths of pipe to 90° with inadequate information, training or instruction on how to operate the machine, no risk assessment and no guard or interlock system to prevent access to the danger zone on the machine. She was required to place a length of pipe in one of the machine vices and hold it in place with her right hand. She then activated the bending process by pressing the start button with her left hand. The first vice gripped before the she could remove her right hand, and her fingers were clamped between the second vice and the pipe.
She did not activate the emergency stop button, believing that would immediately stop the process and not release the vice. The bending process completed the cycle before the clamp opened and released her hand.
At the time of the incident the trades assistant had been employed in the role for six months, having previously worked in office administration, and had no prior experience operating plant and machinery.
It was reasonably practicable for the employer to know about the hazard, given the previous injury, and to eliminate or reduce the risk to employees by conducting a risk assessment of the task, changing the process to avoid the requirement to hold pipe with their hand, providing adequate training and competency testing, providing information and instructions, fitting an interlock, extending the time delay between the two vice actions, fitting a guard and ensuring the emergency stop feature released the clamp when activated.
Read more: $50,000 fine after worker's fingers stuck in machine | WorkSafe Victoria