A food manufacturing company in the Dandenong area has been fined $35,000 without conviction for their failures to provide a safe system of work relating to chemicals used in their workplace.
Silvan Food Company Pty Ltd manufactures and packages food products, such as juices and sauces. At their workplace they have a Blending Room, which was cleaned daily using a caustic treatment including Chlorfoam Cleaner, a corrosive dangerous good. The treatment was then flushed into a small room containing a 1m deep drainage pit, which is located behind a door. This caustic mix creates a thick steam, leading to very poor visibility inside the Blending Room.
During the cleaning process, the drainage pit would remain open for around 35-40 minutes, and the door could be opened otherwise, as it did not have a lock. At the time of the incident in May 2024, the drainage pit was exposed, full of liquid, and had no grate or other form of access restriction. Covering grates were available but had been removed and stacked at the rear of the room.
On the day of the incident an employee who did not usually work in the Blending Room entered to say goodnight to his colleagues. Mistaking the door for an adjacent exit, he entered the open door and fell into the pit. He sustained severe chemical burns to his lower legs and hand, requiring surgeries and skin grafts.
WorkSafe’s investigation into the incident found that it was reasonably practicable for Silvan Food Company to provide or maintain systems of work to ensure worker safety, including by permanently securing a grate over the pit, locking the door to the drainage pit when access was not required, implementing a system for cleaning the drainage pit of accumulated waste, such as a wet-vac, ventilating the Blending Room by installing extraction fans to improve visibility, and installing deterrent signage on the door and/or installing a light to indicate when the door to the drainage pit is open. Several of these risk control measures could be achieved with little to no expense.
In sentencing Silvan Food Company, the Court noted that although the company had some safe systems in place, it was not a robust system. It was also foreseeable that exposure to the caustic chemicals could cause serious injury and severe burns.
The presence of covering grates at the site indicate that Silvan Food Company were aware of the risks and available controls to manage those risks. Their choice to permit the hazards to remain uncontrolled clearly breached their duty under s.21 of the OHS Act to provide a safe workplace and systems of work.
The maximum applicable penalty value for a breach of s.21 of the OHS Act at the time of the incident was approximately $1.73 million.
WorkSafe publishes ample guidance for employers to assist them in safely managing the risks associated with hazardous substances in the workplace, including the Compliance Code: Hazardous Substances
The Victorian Government has finally responded to the Sentencing Advisory Council’s 12 recommendations for reform regarding the sentencing of OHS offences in Victoria and has legislated to increase maximum penalties for aggravated breaches of Section 21 of the OHS Act. The Government accepted the recommendation to increase all general duty in-principle’ however there is no clear implementation timeline on this reform.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria