Portland saw mill in court after employee loses parts of fingers in workplace accident

A2C International, a lumber store trading at Portland's Cashmore Road, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Thursday to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment.

The company was fined $36,500.

A conviction was not recorded.

The court heard that on January 15, 2019, the male victim was working in the area of a saw mill conveyer line known as a strapper.

The machine bundles timber into packs, with the employer working in quality control to make sure the timber was appropriately strapped into bundles and not out of shape.

The victim used a scissor lift to access the area.

At 1.20pm the victim noticed a bundle had a piece of timber missing so reached over with both hands in an attempt to pick the item up.

He lost his grip while pulling the bundle towards him and his right-hand glove became caught on moving clogs, causing his hand to become stuck.

The man yelled out to get the attention of other workers.

His hand was freed after more than two minutes.

The court heard he was taken to hospital where sections of two fingers required amputation.

The victim was off work for several weeks.

The court heard A2C International failed to provide safe guarding of the machine, as well as appropriate training in how to use it.

Barrister Amanda Dickens said the strapper was not a common piece of machinery and was imported from Sweden at the cost of more than $1 million.

She said the company paid in excess of $48,000 following the incident in order to provide appropriate guarding to the machine.

She said while the the general proposition of risk about machine guarding was well known, it was "not so well known with respect to configuration of this machine particularly".

Magistrate John Lesser said he accepted there was "some discretionary decision making by the victim" in choosing to reach over to pick up the timber.

But he said the victim was likely not told not to do that during the training process.

"It is clear from (the victim's) actions that he was attempting to do a job which appeared to be a routine part of this piece of equipment," Mr Lesser said.

"Regrettably as a result, the injury occurred."

Mr Lesser said the company was still developing its safety documentation at the time of the offending, which he said highlighted the importance of having such documentation completed at a very early stage.

The magistrate accepted the offender was a "relatively ill-informed company in the process of developing international and domestic trading arrangements."

He said A2C International was still in the developing process and was trading at a loss.

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