A major Australian fruit grower, Redlands Operations Pty Ltd, has been fined $20,000 after an employee was injured by a chain that snapped and smashed through a tractor windscreen.
Redland Operations (Redland Fruit), a part of the Redland Group, operates the apple orchard near Shepparton along with other orchards in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. They boast of the largest investment in crop protection systems and structures in Australia but disappointingly have not demonstrated the same care and investment in workplace safety.
In February 2024 an employee was driving a tractor and cultivator attachment in an orchard area when the tractor became bogged. It was not uncommon for tractors to become bogged in that orchard up to five times per day during wet weather. With the assistance of a second employee and another tractor an attempt was made to retrieve the bogged tractor by using a chain wrapped around the front bumper of the bogged tractor and around a slasher link arm on the second tractor.
During the process of trying to extract the tractor in this manner the chain broke, and a part of the broken chain snapped backwards, smashing the bogged tractor’s windscreen and striking the employee in the face, causing in a serious injury.
At the time of the incident, the chain was the only piece of equipment available at the workplace to extract bogged tractors, and it was frequently used for this task. The chain was unsuitable for this task, as it had an insufficient rated load capacity to recover a bogged tractor. Given this, there was a risk that the chain could break during a recovery process, resulting in death or serious injury.
Redland Fruit failed in their duty under the OHS Act to provide a safe system of work and the information, instruction, training and supervision to enable employees to complete their work in a safe manner. The purchase and use of rated recovery straps, as well as the provision of information and training to employees associated with their use would have prevented this incident.
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