Media Release - SafeWork SA

25 September 2007

FINE AFTER UNGUARDED MACHINE INJURES WORKER

A failure in basic safety precautions and training has cost a young woman a section of
her right index finger and her employer an $11,000 fine in the SA Industrial Relations
Court.

SafeWork SA prosecuted furniture maker, IJF Australia Pty Ltd over the incident at its Kilburn
factory on 30 September 2005 with penalty handed down by Industrial Magistrate, Michael
Ardlie, last Friday.

IJF Australia had pleaded guilty to breaching section 19(1) of the Occupational Health Safety
and Welfare Act 1986 in failing to ensure the safety of an employee assigned to the task.

SafeWork SA alleged that the company had:

• failed to provide safe systems of work

• failed to provide plant in safe condition (i.e. guarding against dangerous moving parts)
• failed to provide information, instruction and training as necessary regarding the safe
operation of the machine.

SafeWork SA told the court that on the day of the incident, the 23-year-old female employee
had been asked to work on a large ‘edgebander’ which presses and glues edge strips to
laminated boards used for making cabinets. Her task at the time involved removing and
stacking the finished boards as they emerged from the machine.

The court heard that while the operator was fixing an error on the machine, the female worker
was removing offcuts out of view of the operator. When the machine restarted, her hand was
drawn into the machine resulting in the amputation of her right index finger to the first knuckle,
and other lacerations.

In her statement to SafeWork SA tendered as evidence, the woman said she’d assumed that if
an area on the machine was unguarded, then it was safe to place her hands there. She had
not been told otherwise.

“Engineering solutions such as guards and lock-out devices, as well as good safety training
are crucial to managing the many hazards in manufacturing,” says SafeWork SA’s Acting
Executive Director, Peter Hampton.

“Employers have the major legal responsibility for the safety of their workers, meaning they
must ensure that incidents like this are anticipated and prevented before someone comes to
harm as this woman did.”

For answers and advice on workplace health and safety and the relevant laws, SafeWork SA operates a telephone Help
Centre on 1 300 365 255 or 8303 0400. To report serious accidents or incidents, in the workplace call 1 800 777 209.

For further information contact Peter Adams, Chief Media Adviser,

SafeWork SA Ph: (08) 8204 9430 or 0434 603 861 www.safework.sa.gov.au