Degloving incident costs juice company $30,000

Degloving incident costs juice company $30,000

A Mildura fruit juice company has faced court over an incident that saw a worker’s hand degloved, and the company has been fined for failing to provide a safe workplace.

Lencia Fruit Juices Pty Ltd appeared before the Mildura Magistrates’ Court this week over an incident from June last year. It was heard in court that Lencia had purchased and installed a new bottling machine. Previously, the company had used bottling equipment for round bottles, but the new model required oblong-shaped bottles.

A plate on the new machine didn’t fit the existing bottles and they frequently got caught in machinery and jammed. The machinery did not have appropriate safety guards in place.

On June 17, an employee noticed a number of fallen bottles in the machine, and when he reached in to remove them his hand was caught and he was dragged into the machinery. A fellow employee hit the emergency stop button and called emergency services to attend the scene.

The worker was taken to Mildura Base Hospital, before being transferred to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where he required surgery for his injuries, which included a partial degloving of his hand, along with nerve damage and a burst tendon.

Lencia was charged with failing to provide or maintain plant that was safe and without risks to health. Magistrate Michael Coghlan, in handing down the decision, explained that the replacing of equipment at the site appeared to be “a bit of a rush job” and that employees had not been properly instructed on how to use the equipment, nor did the equipment have the appropriate guarding.

The company has since gone into liquidation, and Magistrate Coghlan noted that any penalty “may not necessarily be one that is met by the company”.

Lencia was convicted and fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $1654.83 to WorkSafe.

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