A Perth company has been fined $60,000 after one of its workers was crushed by a 217kg stone slab.
D'Amelio Stone, which imports and processes stone, and its director Nicola D'Amelio were handed the penalty after pleading guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court to failing to provide a safe working environment.
The charges arose from the death of the 43-year-old worker at the company's Wangara premises in March 2007.
The man and a co-worker were trying to move the slab from a storage shed to a workshop with the help of a forklift when the accident happened.
The man held the slab vertically while his co-worker removed a slab behind it. It was usual practice at D'Amelio for workers to manually tilt the slabs while they were clamped and lifted by forklift.
However the slab fell towards the worker holding it, crushing him between it and other slabs in a rack behind him.
WorkSafe acting executive director John Innes said "it could not reasonably be considered" that D'Amelio engaged in safe work practices by having workers hold a 217kg slab upright manually.
The company later changed its work practices, but was aware of the way the slabs were moved and did nothing "until it was too late", Mr Innes said.
March 9, 2009
Incidents such as this show that a small investment in an Occupational Health and Safety training Video, safety training DVD or online safety training video are a small investment to make to save money but more importantly lives. Do not wait until it is “too late”, act now to save lives and prevent injuries. Click for:
Forklift safety Training Video and DVD ’s.
Manual Handling Safety Training Video and DVD 's.
Online Safety TV Channels.
See a full list of Occupational Health and Safety Training Videos, Safety Training DVD ’s and online safety training videos.
No comments:
Post a Comment