My Blog Site - Throwing Stones – Not the Right Answer

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whsblog.com OHS and Safety

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Throwing Stones – Not the Right Answer

March 2014

The SA Magistrates Court has acquitted a company of a safety charge in Perry v Exactmix Pty Ltd [2014] SAIRC 7 (6 March 2014). The charge relates to an incident in April 2011 in which a mobile plant operator had the top of his finger cut off and sustained other hand injuries after he and his supervisor tried to manually clear a blockage in the machine by throwing rocks.

The rock crusher had become blocked. Operating procedure required that a supervisor be called and that manual attempts to solve the problem not be used.

It was acknowledged almost universally that at no stage was it ever part of the training that employees should go about the task of overcoming the blockage by manual means. The rock throwing was a matter of expedience and was not a method that was approved by the defendant. The expectation was that a person in a supervisory position would overcome a blockage by the use of mechanical means either by a rock-breaker mounted on the plant or by the use of a mobile rock-breaker. Don't throw stones

As a result, the court found in favour of the employer and dismissed the case that had been prosecuted under the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 (SA)

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