Unguarded dough mixer a recipe for disaster for repeat offender

A manufacturer of specialist frozen Chinese appetisers has been fined $180,000 in relation to an incident in which a worker injured their hand when using an inadequately guarded dough mixer (WorkSafe Victoria v Makmur Enterprises Pty Ltd [2026]).

The manufacturer, Makmur Enterprises Pty Ltd, operates a facility in Richmond. At the facility, workers operated mixing bowl that had a semi-circular metal grill guarding workers from the hazard of the mixing bowl agitator. The other half of the bowl was exposed permitting access to the middle of the bowl.

On 9 October 2024, at various times, a worker reached his arm and hand into the danger area while the machine was operational and the blade was rotating. During the course of that work, the worker’s finger was pinned between the metal scraper and another part of the machine, causing lacerations to his finger. The worker received treatment at a hospital and returned to work the same day.

Makmur Enterprises pleaded guilty, accepting that it was reasonably practicable for it to have used a combination of fixed guarding and openable guarding that was connected to an interlock to prevent access to the danger area

In imposing a substantial fine of $180,000, the Court took into account that the company had been on notice of the risks of unguarded machines as a result of a prior history of five other offences of a similar nature between 2014 and 2024.

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