Potato supplier fined after worker loses leg

Fiorelli Packing Co 2 Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Friday 19 December after pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide or maintain a safe system of work.

The company was also ordered to pay $10,913.68 in costs.

The court heard Fiorelli’s warehouse featured an item of plant known as the potato cutter.

Sweet potatoes would be tipped into the machine’s hopper, then onto a conveyor belt where they would pass through blades and be cut into pieces.

In September 2022, the worker was instructed by his supervisor to climb onto the machine while it was operating and hold a broomstick against the hopper to slow the output of potatoes and spread them on the conveyor belt before they passed through the cutter.

During the task the worker’s foot slipped and became entangled in the rotating blades.

After his supervisor activated the machine’s emergency stop button, the worker remained trapped in the blades and could see part of his foot had been cut off and was located on the conveyor belt. He was eventually freed by emergency services and transported to hospital.

The worker’s foot was unable to be re-attached, ultimately resulting in an amputation of his leg below the knee.

A WorkSafe investigation found that standing on top of the machine while it was operating and using a broomstick to improve product flow was common practice among workers at the warehouse.

The company admitted it was reasonably practicable to have reduced the risk of shearing, cutting and entanglement by providing an interlocked physical guard or perimeter fence which prevented bodily access to the danger area while the machine was operating; ensuring an isolation procedure, such as a lock-out tag-out (LOTO) system, was in place before workers performed task; and installing emergency stop buttons which were accessible near the danger area of the plant.

WorkSafe Acting Chief Health and Safety Officer Barb Hill said having workers stand near the blades of a machine in operation was a disaster waiting to happen.

“It pains me to think how much physical and psychological suffering this worker has endured since his life-changing injury, and how easily it could’ve been avoided,” she said.

“To allow such a blatantly obvious risk to go on uncontrolled to the point that it becomes a standard process is a such a disturbing departure from an employer’s most basic health and safety duties.”

To manage risks when working with machinery employers should:

• Identify hazards, assess the risks associated with them and eliminate or control those risks by isolating plant from persons, using engineering controls and/or providing substitute plant with lower risk levels.
• Train staff in the safe operation of machines and equipment and provide written procedures in the worker's first language.
• Develop and implement safe operating procedures in consultation with employees and health and safety representatives (HSRs).
  Ensure safety guards and gates are compliant and fixed to machines at all times.
• Regularly service and inspect machines and equipment.
• Place signs on or near a machine to alert employees to the dangers of operating it.