Manufacturer Fined $80,000 For Information Failure

A business has been convicted and fined $80,000 after it failed to provide safety information about its products to customers.

A Knoxfield tool manufacturing company pleaded guilty to two workplace safety charges relating to a router tool (bit) that broke into three pieces, one of which struck a woman in the chest, killing her on 21 December 2006.

The 31 year old woman was the daughter of the owner of an East Bentleigh door manufacturer and was using an industrial router to make the design on the front of a door when the router tool broke.

WorkSafe’s investigation of the incident found the router tool was to be operated at between 6000 and 8000 revolutions per minute although it was actually operating around 15,000 rpm at the time of the incident.

At the time of the sentencing, the County Court judge said in manufacturing the router tool, the manufacturing company failed to mark it with a maximum operating speed, nor did it provide written information about the safe operating speed.

WorkSafe’s acting Executive Director Stan Krpan said the case illustrated the legal requirement of manufactures, suppliers and retailers to provide adequate information about their products to end-users to ensure they were used safely.

“Control of the ultimate use of the tool may not be possible, however at the point at which it is sold, or even hired, information must be provided,” Mr Krpan said.

Mr Krpan said all businesses should look to cases like this and consider their own safety obligations.

“For businesses coming out of tough economic times and buying or updating equipment, now is the time to ensure it meets safety obligations by referring to WorkSafe and any appropriate Australian Standards.

The Knoxfield company was prosecuted on two counts under Section 24 (1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985. Section 24 of this Act requires manufacturers, importers or suppliers of the plant intended for use in a workplace to provide adequate information about the use for which it has been designed and tested and any conditions necessary to ensure it will be safe and without risk to health.

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