Company and director charged after serious head injury

Dennis Jones Engineering Pty Ltd and director Dennis Jones are facing a single charge each under section 32 of the Occupational health and Safety Act for recklessly engaging in conduct that placed another person in danger of serious injury.

The company also faces a single charge under sections 21(1) and 21(2)(a) of the OHS Act for failing to provide or maintain a safe system of work, the same offence for which the director is facing an additional single charge under section 144(1) of the OHS Act.

The apprentice was holding a plastic sleeve to steady a rotating length of steel pipe that was being threaded in a lathe at a workplace in Morwell when the pipe wobbled and bent, striking him in the head.

The matters are listed for a filing hearing at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court on 28 February 2023.