Prosecutions 2005 (PDF 3269kb) - WorkSafe Victoria

COMMITTAL PROCEEDINGS
PAPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
Date of offence: 19 December 2003
Date of prosecution:
Magistrate:
Plea:
18 to 22 July 2005 at Moe Magistrates’ Court
His Honour Magistrate Dugdale
Not guilty
On 19 December 2003 at the Paper Australia Pty Ltd Maryvale Mill at Morwell, an employee winder
assistant was working at the mill on a machine known as ‘paper machine number five’.
The employee was standing on a raised kick plate which was to the side of an operator platform.
The platform was beside the winder section of the machine. The platform had a pressure plate
under it, which when a person was standing on the platform, prevented the table on the machine
moving. From time-to-time, the tail end sheet of the paper would ‘kick out’ and fall down
underneath the paper reel of the machine.
In order to avoid this happening, employees devised strategies to hold the paper up in place. One
method was to use a broom handle with sticky tape on it and another was to hold the paper up with
a long piece of PVC piping.
On this day the employee leant across to the reel of paper to hold onto the sheet with his hand.
The employee stood on the kick plate to reach out to hold the paper and as a consequence, the
pressure plate was not activated and the table carrying the paper reel continued its downward
motion, catching and severing the corner of the employee’s right boot between the table and the
platform. The employee’s boot became trapped between the operator’s platform and a lowering
table at the wind section of the machine. The employee’s big toe on his right foot was amputated.
‘Paper machine number five’ was commissioned in July 1998, by its German manufacturer. At
the time of commissioning, two of the manufacturer’s engineers conducted training sessions for
employees. A number of employees found this training unsatisfactory because they had difficulty
understanding the engineers’ broken English.
A risk assessment and hazard identification was not performed in relation to the particular
machine. Over time, certain written safety procedures were developed by the employees. These
procedures did not, however, address the risks associated with an employee avoiding the operation
of the pressure plate by standing on the adjacent kick plate.
Breach: Sections 21(1) & (2)(a); sections 21(1) & (2)(b); and sections 21(1) & (2)(e) of the Occupational
Health and Safety Act 1985. Regulation 704(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety (Plant)
Regulations 1995.
Result: Committed to stand trial in County Court
PROSECUTIONS 2005
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