Prosecution Details

Being an employer at a workplace, failed to provide measures to prevent, as far as was practicable, the use of plant, namely a Sandingmaster sanding machine, in a manner that could render that plant a hazard to a person at the workplace.

The defendant operates a furniture manufacturing business in Kelmscott.

An employee of the defendant was injured whilst using a sanding machine. His fingers became caught between a length of timber and the conveyor belt that feeds the timber into the sander. The employee pressed the emergency stop button but the button did not function. If it had been functional the injuries would have been less serious as the speed of the machine would have slowed down once the stop had been activate.

A manager and director of the company admitted the emergency stop button had not been functional for three weeks prior to the accident. The machine had not been tagged out or removed from operation.

The defendant pleaded guilty.