GIACCI Bros has been fined $100,000 over a 2006 incident in which a 19-year-old worker’s leg was torn off.
In November 2006, an employee of Giacci Bros was working at Lido Limestone. He was tasked with operating one of the company’s limestone block making machines, but realised it needed cleaning.
As he cleaned the hopper and moulds of the machine, the hydraulics engaged and the feed tray of the machine moved, causing him to fall under the moving parts. As the machine went through its block making cycle, the employee’s right leg was torn from his body at the hip.
The machine had two keys. Only one of the keys was intended to be on the machine at any one time so it would have to be removed in order to open the caged area that contained the operative parts of the machine. Removing the key would have cut off the hydraulic power.
The worker had not been trained in the safety aspects of operating and cleaning the machine.
On the day of the incident, both keys were in the machine. The company did not have a system in place for recording or controlling the use of the keys.
Giacci Bros pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment, and by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee. It was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court.
WorkSafe WA says the case highlighted the importance of having safe systems of work in place at all times and ensuring these systems of work were stringently adhered to.