SA livestock feed company to pay $390k for fatal workplace incident

 The South Australian Employment Tribunal has fined a livestock feed company $390,000 after a gate fatally crushed a worker within a pellet press in October 2020. The worker was attempting to clean a buildup of product at the bottom of the pellet press’s surge bin when he was fatally injured.

A SafeWork SA investigation revealed that the company failed to identify and assess the risks to workers when performing cleaning duties on the pellet press.

The company pleaded guilty to two charges under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) following the fatal incident. The tribunal found that the company failed to provide and maintain a safe work environment and a safe system of work for the task.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Martyn Campbell said, “this incident is an example of where inadequate risk management, particularly when it concerns machinery, has led to the unnecessary death of a worker.”

“It is not enough to just conduct a hazard identification and risk assessment on the normal operation of machinery itself; assessments and control measures must also be made in relation to the specific tasks associated with the machinery.”

Originally published on SafeWork SA website.