A manufacturer was fined $40,000 in relation to an incident in which a worker’s finger was amputated while changing bags on an extraction system (WorkSafe Victoria v Askin (Vic) Pty Ltd [2024]).

Askin (Vic) Pty Ltd, which operates a manufacturing facility in Victoria, engaged a labour hire worker for undertaking packing at the end of the manufacturing line. The worker also was given the task of changing the bags on the two lines of the extraction system every 1 or 2 hours. 

On 17 May 2022, the worker started changing the bags on the extraction systems. On one of the lines, the vent appeared fully blocked by wool. The worker untaped the bag and tied it off but left the control switch in the 'on' position, because he thought the blockage was stopping the dust from dropping. Using a plastic pipe, which he had previously used to clear a blockage, the worker pushed the wool upwards to unblock the vent. While doing so, the pipe was dragged into the vent’s valves, pulling the worker's hand up and into the valve's blades, causing an amputation and degloving injury. 

Askin (Vic) pleaded guilty to failing to:

• provide and maintain, so far as reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risks to health; and
• provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.

In sentencing the company, the Court noted that the investigation established that there was a failure to:

1. Undertake a risk assessment of the process for clearing blockages.
2. Implement a written process for isolating the plant to change the bags.
3. Ensure blockages were reported to maintenance.
4. Ensure only trained maintenance personnel changed the bags safely. 

A fine of $60,000 would have been imposed, but for the plea of guilty and good safety record of the company.