Firm faces finger fine

By Kim Waters
A WORKER who lost three fingers could cost a Geelong company almost $500,000 in fines, a Geelong court has heard.
Express Promotions pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company was the second in Victoria to be charged with recklessly endangering a worker, the court heard.
WorkSafe prosecutor Niki Andriopoulos told the court 37-year-old James Trate was attempting to fix a printing press in 2008 when he slipped and caught his hand in rollers, severing the three fingers.
Ms Andriopoulos said workers had modified the 13-year-old press so it could continue running with a rear safety guard open.
“Cleaning with the guard down slows production,” Ms Andriopoulos told the court.
“To aid easy cleaning and quick ink changes someone loosened the screws so the rear guard could be raised, which defeats the purpose of the guard.”
Ms Andriopoulos said Express Promotions had failed to show Mr Trate or other workers a safety manual for operating the press.
Management warned staff against disarming the machine’s safety mechanism after discovering an unnamed worker had loosened screws so the machine could operate with the guard open, she said.
The machine operated safely for two weeks until another worker again loosened the screws.
Ms Andriopoulous urged Magistrate Stephen Myall to consider imposing almost $500,000 in damages.
Express Promotions solicitor Luke McWilliams said Mr Trate was “a worker over the age of 30 who knew that what he was doing was unsafe”.
Mr McWilliams told the court his client, one of Geelong’s largest printing companies, had no prior convictions and was a “good corporate citizen”.
The company admitted the unsafe machine “should have been remedied earlier”, he said.
He believed total fines of $105,000 without conviction was appropriate.
“A conviction will have an affect on existing and subsequent tenders,” Mr McWilliams said
The hearing was continuing when the Independent went to press.