Rockhampton company fined $32,500 over injury to apprentice
Date issued: 2009-02-19
A Rockhampton construction company has been fined $32,500 after an apprentice was injured in November 2006.
Millsons Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton Industrial Magistrates Court on 10 February 2009 to breaching section 24 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to ensure workplace safety.
The court heard the worker was a first year apprentice engaged by the company through an employment agency.
He was cutting a length of timber on a compound mitre saw when the timber, after being cut, pushed his left hand into the side the saw blade, causing cuts.
The Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation revealed the worker was:
- not supervised
- not given any training in the use of the mitre saw, and
- was not provided with a saw bench or vice to hold timber in place.
Industrial Magistrate Mr Mark Morrow, in addition to the fine, ordered the company to pay $1,372 investigation costs and court courts of $64. A conviction was recorded.
The prosecution was brought by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, a division of the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations.
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