Employer prosecuted over injury from using borrowed equipment

December 2009

The Industrial Court has recently fined the operators of a farm near Snowtown $28,000 over a workplace incident that left a farmhand paralysed.

The incident occurred as the farmhand, aged in his early 20’s, was working on a large stock crate prior to mustering sheep for shearing. The crate had been borrowed from a neighbour. The farmhand had to stand on a small platform three metres off the ground and operate a manual winch to lower a ramp within the crate.

During this task, the winch handle forcefully struck the man in the face, after which he fell from the platform to the ground. This resulted in skull fractures and the loss of sight in his right eye, and spinal damage, which left him paralysed.

Following an investigation, SafeWork SA prosecuted the farm owners, and submitted to the court that:
• The hazard identification and risk assessment process for the task was inadequate.
• There was no safe operating procedure for the task concerned.
• There was no safe access to the platform on top of the stock crate.
• There was no fall protection for the work at height.
Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke noted the defendants’ extensive safety precautions elsewhere across the farm’s operations, and the fact that they had even sent the worker on an OHS course prior to the incident.

He noted that, “While they believed they were being comprehensive in their safety improvements, they appear not to have given the same attention to the stock crate as to their own plant and equipment, probably because it was occasionally borrowed to them".

“…I must take into account that there was a risk of fatality, and that the risks of being struck and of falling were foreseeable had an adequate risk assessment been undertaken. The risk of the operator being hit by the handle was raised by (a warning sticker on the arm of the winch handle) but was not addressed by the employer.”

Employers should therefore note that the process of finding and fixing potential workplace safety hazards must extend to every item of plant no matter how infrequently it’s used, or where it’s sourced from.

As this case demonstrates, even a seemingly minor oversight can have catastrophic consequences.

Make sure your workplace safety checks and risk assessments always include:
• Borrowed,
• Old, or
• Seldom used equipment

Contact EQAS if you need some help!