ADELAIDE: Australian apparel and footwear brand RM Williams has been fined $14,500 over a workplace accident that left a female employee hospitalised with two crushed fingers.
The brand, whose manufacturing base is in Salisbury, had earlier pleaded guilty to charges under the Occupational Health Safety (OSH) and Welfare Act arising from the February 2007 accident.
The Magistrates Court of South Australia was told the charges arose as the result of employee Celina Davids catching two fingers on her right hand while operating a logo stamping machine. After being treated at the scene Davids was taken to hospital by ambulance where she underwent surgery later the same day.
The incident was reported to state industrial workplace group SafeWork SA around a week later.
Following an investigation into the incident, SafeWork alleged RM Williams had breached two requirements of the act - failing to ensure Davids' safety while she was at work and failing to notify it of a work-related injury.
The Crown Solicitors Office told the hearing the logo-stamping machine operated on leather goods at varying pressures at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. David had worked for RM Williams for about three years prior to the incident but because she had not used the machine before, was given verbal instructions by her supervisor and later left to operate it on her own.
The court heard the design of the machine did not prevent hand access to its moving parts. The guard was not interlocked with the foot control pedal and the only other safety control measure was a verbal instruction to the operator.
The legal firm representing RM Williams, Fisher Jeffries, told the court that after being issued with a prohibition notice on further use of the machine, RM Williams carried out a written hazard identification and risk assessment, implemented a two-handed control system and wrote an operations manual. It also added a sign warning of the stamp's hot surface.
Following this it also undertook a review and audit of all its OSH practices covering around 500 items of plant.
In sentencing industrial magistrate SM Lieschke said he accepted RM Williams had fully cooperated with SafeWork and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. In light of this and the fact it was the first time the company had committed offences under the act, the magistrate said the company was entitled to a credit of the maximum fine payable.
As a result the company was ordered to pay a total of $15,500 including court costs and victims of crime levies.