Fosters hit with record OHS fine over worker's death

Brewing giant Fosters has been fined a record $1.125m for safety failings that led to the death of a worker.  In April 2006, 58-year-old brewery worker was crushed between a handrail and the pneumatically-operated door of a machine that takes bottles from pallets before they are filled. He died in hospital six days later. 

An investigation had revealed workers were required to enter the operating area of their machines to remove broken bottles and plastic binding tape and ensure sensor lights worked. Workers estimated they would do this up to 20 times per shift. 

The worker, like all the workers, was allowed to leave work an hour earlier on the last shift of the week if they had completed cleaning the machine. As a result, they would clean the machine while production continued. 

Training on the job 

WorkSafe told the Victorian County Court there were neither adequate visual nor audible warning of the opening of the pneumatic doors, unguarded chain sprockets created hazards, and safety devices were easily over-ridden to prevent sudden stoppage of the machine that caused bottles to fall over and break. 

A specific standard operating procedures (SOP) covering this was produced after the worker's death. 

Various operators reported they were unfamiliar with the SOPs and did not have sufficient English to read them. Much training was done ‘on the job’. 

Previous incident 

Further, it was found an employee was hurt in similar circumstances on another machine in 2002. While safety was improved on that machine, improvements were not made to the machine that killed Huynh in 2006. 

Fosters Australia Ltd pleaded guilty to two charges under Victoria's OHS Act 2004, which provides for a maximum fine of more than $943,000 on each charge. 

Danger foreseeable 

Justice Jane Campton said a reasonable employer would have foreseen the danger posed by the unguarded machine and taken steps to make it safer, but Fosters chose not to - with tragic consequences. 

Campton noted Fosters’ failings were at the higher end of the scale because there had been a similar incident on a near-identical machine nearly three-and-a-half years previously 

Had it not been for the guilty plea, the fine would have been $1.5m, she said. 

The $1.125m fine imposed on Fosters is the highest yet under Victoria’s new OHS Act. 

The state’s highest ever fine was $2m imposed on Esso after the 1998 Longford Gas Plant explosion. Esso was prosecuted on 11 counts under the 1985 Act, which had a maximum penalty of $250,000 per charge. 

Actions since the death 

Fosters told the Court that machines at Abbotsford had been made safer and staff had had extra training after the death. 

Later, safety improvements at the brewery cost $3.9m.