A Balcatta machining and heavy metal fabrication business has been fined $250,000 (and ordered to pay $5990 in costs) over a 2021 incident that resulted in serious injury to a worker.
Twoex Pty Ltd – trading as West City Engineering – pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday.
In May 2021, the employee was instructed to complete a task on a press brake machine at the company’s machining and fabrication workshop in Balcatta. The task was to “bump bend” a piece of 12mm thick grade 2 titanium.
When the employee was in the process of bending the titanium, a section broke free and hit him in the face. He suffered serious and permanent facial injuries including 47 facial fractures, a 15cm laceration and permanent eye damage.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said today it was disappointing to find workplaces not conducting risk assessments for non-routine work.
“The court heard that no formal risk assessment or job hazard analysis was performed to identify the potential risks involved in this particular job,” Ms North said.
“It was reasonably practicable for the company to ensure that its employees did not bump press titanium without safeguards in place to eliminate or minimise any risks to workers’ safety.
“The company did have a safe work procedure for the press brake, but it was kept in the office and only shown to workers when they were learning how to use the machine and was not regularly consulted or reviewed.
“The injured worker was an experienced fabricator and did understand the risks and control measures involved in operating the press brake, however it was not routine for him to work on titanium, which has different properties to other metals, and this should have been taken into consideration.
“This case should serve as a reminder to workplaces using potentially hazardous machinery that risk assessments need to be undertaken for each task, especially when the task is not undertaken regularly, as these assessments are fundamental to making sure the right safety controls are identified and used.”