A Western Australian steel fabricating company has been fined after a 16-year-old work experience student’s three fingers were partially amputated.
Tropical Bay (trading as Transcoat Engineering), has been fined $25,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of a non-employee and, by that failure, causing serious harm.
Transcoat Engineering’s premises were equipped with brake presses, guillotines, a cropper/punch machine, welders and angle grinders.
In July 2008, a 16-year-old student from Pinjarra High School commenced work experience at Transcoat Engineering and was directed to cut 50 strips of metal on a Hydracut guillotine.
According to WorkSafe, he was required to mark a section on each steel strip and place it lengthwise into the guillotine to cut off the end.
He was instructed on how to mark the steel strip, place it in the guillotine, hold the steel strip with both hands on top of it and operate the guillotine by pressing a foot pedal.
A Transcoat Engineering employee demonstrated the procedure by cutting four metal strips himself, then supervising the student while he cut approximately ten strips.
When the employee was confident the student was capable of performing the task himself, he left to attend to other duties, returning to check on the student from time to time.
The student had cut 47 strips without incident, but when he was cutting the 48th, the right side of the strip became stuck. When he tried to push it through, he lost his balance and applied pressure to the foot pedal.
The guillotine clamps came down and crushed his left hand. As a result of the crush injuries, three of the student’s fingers were partially amputated.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Lex McCulloch said today the case was a reminder of the vital importance of guarding machinery.
“This is a tragic example of machinery not being adequately guarded and a young student suffering a permanent injury as a consequence,” McCulloch said.
“Anyone in control of a workplace containing machinery with hazardous moving parts needs to ensure that those moving parts are safely guarded,” he said.
This incident follows a Geelong timber business convicted for failing to properly guard machines, resulting in worker injuries including loss of two fingers and a crushed hand and head.