Chabad Youth Limited was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday 3 March after pleading guilty to two charges of failing to ensure persons other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks.
The organisation was fined without conviction and ordered to pay $7,663 in costs.
In November 2022, an educator engaged by Chabad Youth was conducting an experiment for several students enrolled in the science club of an after school program run by the charity in St Kilda East.
The experiment involved adding baking soda and powdered sugar to sand soaked in isopropyl alcohol before using a lighter or match to ignite the mixture.
The court heard the educator appears to have instead lit a match prior to pouring the isopropyl alcohol, some of which has then splashed in the direction of a student and immediately set their upper body and arms on fire.
A fire extinguisher deployed after the educator jumped onto the student in an attempt to smother the flames only aggravated the blaze, before it was eventually extinguished with a fire blanket.
Both the student and the educator were admitted to hospital suffering burns.
An investigation found no risk assessment had been completed for the experiment and participants were not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as fire resistant gloves and coats or aprons.
Chabad Youth admitted it was reasonably practicable to have ensured that the educator wore such PPE while conducting the experiment; and that the students were either kept at least two metres away from the experiment, provided with the same PPE, or both.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said any use of hazardous materials required careful planning and consideration of the potential risks.
"Experiments using highly flammable substances can be an important educational tool but can have potentially catastrophic consequences if things go wrong," Mr Jenkin said.
"It is the responsibility of every employer to ensure such activities are conducted in a safe and controlled manner to protect their workers, contractors and those in their care."
To control risks associated with hazardous chemicals in the workplace, employers should:
- Treat all chemicals as potentially dangerous to health, unless Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or label states otherwise.
- Obtain Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for all dangerous goods and hazardous chemicals at the workplace, and ensure workers have access to them.
- Consult with workers and any health and safety representatives (HSRs) when identifying potential risks to health and safety and assessing control measures.
- Consider eliminating the substance from use. If elimination is not practicable, consider the use a less harmful product or process or a less hazardous form of the substance.
- Check and ensure containers of chemicals are adequately labelled or identified.
- Design the workplace and work systems to isolate the process or substance from workers and others to prevent contact.
- Train workers on safe work practices that reduce the risk of an incident or exposure.
- Provide adequate personal protective clothing and equipment (PPE) for workers and others in the workplace.
