Company fined after employee injured in workplace accident | About Regional
NSW District Court Justice David Russell said the incident was triggered by a “catastrophic failure” of machinery at a Boral worksite. Photo: Boral/Facebook. Photo: Sang Hyun Cho, PixabayA company has been. . .
NSW District Court Justice David Russell said the incident was triggered by a “catastrophic failure” of machinery at a Boral worksite. Photo: Boral/Facebook. Photo: Sang Hyun Cho, PixabayA company has been fined for an “entirely foreseeable” incident at a southern NSW worksite that left a long-time employee with lifelong consequences. In February 2022, an unevenly applied load on a conveyor belt contributed to the machinery malfunctioning at a Boral Cement Limited worksite at New Berrima, in the NSW South Coast region. Fenner Dunlop Australia Pty Ltd had been engaged to carry out work on the bucket elevator conveyor belt. The company has two service branches, located in Wollongong and Newcastle. Another company, Nepean Engineering and Innovation Pty Ltd, was also engaged to carry out engineering services at the worksite. In a recently published decision, NSW District Court Justice David Russell said one employee described a noise “as being similar to a jet taking off” as the belt fell after about 30 seconds. “A catastrophic failure of the Voith coupling [a part of the conveyer] occurred. It exploded sending out pieces of metal debris,” he said. “As he was attempting to get down the stairs, … [the worker] was struck in the back of the head by a cast alloy fragment, the force of which knocked off his helmet. ”He was found lying on the ground while bleeding from the head. Paramedics were called and he was taken to hospital. An investigation found the coupling was rotating at 8500 RPM, far higher than its normal 1500 RPM, and that this speed led to its failure. The employee was left with multiple skull fractures, six broken ribs, a moderate brain injury that impacts his cognitive functioning, loss of his vision and hearing and leg numbness. The man is also unable to return to his employment. He had worked for Fenner for about 20 years. Judge Russell accepted the injuries were substantial. According to the decision, he’d told a colleague that the “job is poorly organised”, before the incident occurred and he was injured. Judge Russell found that Fenner had failed to make sure operational instructions for the task were being followed, that adequate risk assessments were carried out and that Fenner had failed to confirm that a mechanical engineer had been consulted on how to install the new belt before works started. The company was charged over failing in its health and safety duty and exposing an employee to serious injuries or death, to which it pleaded guilty. Judge Russell said Fenner had accepted it failed in its workplace health and safety responsibilities, and had also supported the injured employee through his compensation claim. “Recognising that the workers’ compensation scheme does not cover [the injured employee’s] full pre-injury income, Fenner has made top-up payments to him,” Judge Russell said. “Up to 5 July 2026 Fenner has paid an additional $120,757. 70 in top-up pay. ”Judge Russell described Fenner as having a mid-range of culpability over the incident, which he said was born from an “actually known” and “entirely foreseeable” risk. “Once the conveyor belt was started, with the buckets distributed unevenly, the likelihood of the risk occurring was certain,” he said. “The obvious potential consequences of the risk were death or, as occurred, serious injury. “There were steps available which could have minimised the risk. … There was no burden or inconvenience upon Fenner of implementing those steps. ”However, he noted that SafeWork didn’t argue in court that Fenner should have taken “direct steps”. Rather, they argued that Fenner should have worked with other businesses engaged at the site to make sure the work was carried out properly. “The pleaded failures of Fenner to comply with its duty under the WHS Act referred to Fenner confirming certain matters with Boral and/or Nepean, or making reasonable inquiries with Boral and/or Nepean,” he said. According to the decision, both Boral and Nepean were also prosecuted over the incident. Nepean pleaded guilty and was fined $255,000. Boral was found guilty after initially pleading not guilty, and has not been sentenced. Judge Russell judged Fenner unlikely to reoffend, having shown remorse and having good rehabilitation prospects. Fenner also has no prior convictions. He convicted Fenner for its involvement, but reduced the initial $250,000 fine by 15 per cent in light of an early guilty plea. It was fined $212,500. Half that fine will be paid to SafeWork NSW as the prosecutor, and Fenner will also have to pay costs.