Following an incident at Beechworth Secondary College in 2024, WorkSafe has charged the Department of Education with three charges under s.23(1) of the OHS Act for failing to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that persons other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks.
The 15-year-old student was using a guillotine to cut sheet metal when his hand was crushed between the machine and its table, severing multiple fingertips. Paramedics were called to the school, and the student was airlifted to the Alfred hospital.
WorkSafe alleges the department failed to eliminate or reduce the risk of serious injury by failing to provide guarding that prevented access to the rear of the guillotine; failing to provide adequate supervision; and failing to implement a safe system of work for the guillotine which included competency tests, warning signage and restricted access.
WorkSafe provides guidance on the safe use of metal cutting guillotines, including how to use guards and safe systems of work to eliminate or reduce the associated risks.
Metal cutting guillotines have many moving parts that can create risks to health and safety for operators, cleaners and service technicians interacting with the plant.
The clamp creates a crushing hazard as it lowers to the work piece which creates a risk of serious injury to the operator’s hands or fingers as they insert and position the work piece.
Injuries from metal cutting guillotines are often due to fingers being crushed under the clamps or the work piece. Typically, the operator is focusing on aligning the work piece with the guillotine blade and not the movement of the clamp.
Read more: Charges after student guillotine injury | WorkSafe Victoria