ONE of the Border’s biggest employers has been fined and ordered to pay costs of more than $90,000 after a forklift tipped over, trapping two workers.
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The incident, heard in the Wodonga Magistrates Court on Wednesday, was the third time Wodonga Rendering had been prosecuted by WorkSafe.
Three Wodonga Abattoir staff were emptying bags of blood meal into a semi-trailer at the Kelly Street rendering plant on March 9, 2016.
A forklift with a jib was being used to lift the bags into the semi-trailer where an employee would open the bag using a knife or drawstring.
An employee acting as a site engineer and rendering plant manager was guiding the bags and was struck by the forklift, becoming trapped between it and the truck.
The man’s leg was cut and he was hospitalised.
A rendering plant operator who was opening the bags also became trapped under a bag, but did not require treatment.
An investigation showed the forklift had become unbalanced on uneven ground and tipped over.
WorkSafe found the forklift was overloaded by 208 kilograms, the jib by 430 kilograms and a rotator by 157 kilograms.
The tines on the rotator were not properly fitted and the operating capacity of the forklift was unknown.
The rendering plant manager, Eugen Kurmann, said he blamed himself for the incident.
“The company had nothing to do with the accident,” he told the court through a victim impact statement.
Mr Kurmann didn’t realise there was a dip in the ground and said he felt embarrassed by the mistake.
He returned to work two days later and did not make a workers compensation claim.
But abattoir defence lawyer Rob O’Neill said by law, it had been the company’s failing.
He said the business – which has 400 employees that can grow to 580 workers at certain times – had made changes since the incident.
Magistrate Ian Watkins imposed a fine of $85,000 with costs of $5221.
The business will pay off $10,000 each month.
The company has previously been fined $40,000 for an incident where a subcontracted cleaner's hand was crushed and her skin ripped off in September 2012.
A man was struck in the face with an angle grinder in May 2013, which also led to a $40,000 fine.
But the court heard the business had fewer WorkCover claims than the industry average.
