Company fined for electrical balancing act

A Campbellfield company has pleaded guilty to seven workplace health and safety charges after two Chinese workers in Australia on section 457 visas suffered serious injuries in 2006.

Lakeside Packaging was charged in relation to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace, failing to properly train and supervise the Chinese workers and failing to provide instruction or interpreters in their native Mandarin.

The men had little understanding of English.

WorkSafe Victoria told the court one man’s right forearm was crushed in an unguarded machine as he tried to remove misfed paper on 16 March 2006. He spent two weeks in hospital.

Several weeks later, a second Chinese man was hurt while installing an electrical cable on 5 April 2006. He fell from a ladder balanced on top of a table so he could reach the roof (4.8 m above), despite a scissor lift being on the premises.

He broke his right wrist and two teeth and returned to work on 10 April 2006 with his arm braced.

On 30 June 2006, he then hurt his other arm while trying to use a two-handed drill to build a scaffold. Working alone, the drill jammed and kicked back against his left wrist.

He kept working, since he was told the job had to be finished that day. He used his injured right hand (still in a brace) and chin to support the drill to finish the job.

It was later found that his left arm had also been broken.