Baltic Stonemason Professionals Group Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Thursday after being found guilty of three breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The court fined Baltic Stonemason an aggregate of $45,000 with conviction for two charges of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace, by failing to provide the necessary information, training and supervision for employees to work safely.
The company was also fined $6,000 with conviction for failing to comply with an improvement notice, and ordered to pay costs of $5,674.
In August 2023, an assistant at the company's Dandenong warehouse was attempting to pry apart two stone slabs on a storage rack to position a grab clamp for lifting via a davit crane.
The court heard the worker used his hand to pull forward one of the two-metre wide slabs, which then fell onto his chest and shoulders, shattering on impact.
The injured worker was able to crawl out from beneath the slab before he was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital.
WorkSafe's investigation found the injured worker was not supervised at the time of the incident and had only been given verbal instructions on how to move slabs after returning to the workplace in a new role the day before, following an 18 month absence.
Investigators also found there was no restraint in front of the slabs and that the injured worker had been standing in the fall shadow at the time of the incident.
The court heard it was necessary for the company to provide workers with information on the hazards of moving stone slabs and the loading capacity of the racks and retaining posts; instructions to fit upright retaining posts with suitable load capacity before moving slabs; and training in documented procedures for the task.
It was also necessary to supervise workers to ensure they installed upright retaining safety posts before moving stone slabs into the safety racks.
The court heard the company had initially failed to comply with an improvement notice requiring it to update its standard operating procedures and ensure all employees were trained.
WorkSafe Executive Director Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said employers must ensure every worker has the training and supervision to work safely, especially when starting a new job or returning to work.
"Every worker deserves, and is owed, information about the hazards involved in their work - there's simply no excuse for failing to take the time to properly train a worker," Mr Jenkin said.
"A stone slab or any other object weighing 300 kilograms could easily kill someone, this is hazardous work that should never be undertaken by untrained and unsupervised workers."
To reduce the risk serious injury or death from hazardous manual handling of stone slabs and similar items, employers should:
- Have an adequate system of work in place for the safe storage and handling of heavy objects such as slabs or panels.
- Ensure 'fit for purpose' mechanical aids like lifting devices and trolleys are provided and used for all high risk manual handling tasks.
- Review and inspect mechanical aids at regular intervals, to ensure that they are in good working order, fit for purpose and suited to the task.
- Ensure that enough time, resources and support are available for every job.
- Provide workers with information about hazards in the workplace, as well as necessary training and supervision to work safely.
- Only if mechanical aids are not practicable, ensure that enough employees are available and risk management processes are in place to safely manually handle large and heavy items like slabs.
- Ensure work is never done in the fall shadow of an object without suitable controls in place.
- Ensure employees never attempt to try to restrain or stop an object while it is falling.
