Trapped for 90 mins: Worker loses fingers in horror Duralina wheat milling accident

A worker at a NSW wheat producer lost his fingers when his hand became trapped in a milling machine for a horror 90 minutes. The family-owned business has copped a massive penalty.

A Tamworth wheat producer has been fined after a worker’s hand was crushed in a milling machine. Picture: Zoe Phillips

A wheat producer has been convicted and penalised after a worker had his hand crushed in a machine and lost fingers during a horror 90 minute ordeal.

Duralina, a family-owned business which grows durum wheat and produces semolina near Tamworth, was fined $56,250 in the NSW District Court on Friday.

The company trades as Bellata Gold and exports semolina and flour to Asia and throughout the South Pacific, according to its website.

Duralina and related company Mill HR both pleaded guilty to failing to comply with duties under the Work Health and Safety Act, exposing worker Hanna Gerges to a risk of serious injury.

Mr Gerges, an electrical engineer who was employed by Mill HR, was injured at Duralina’s mill in Westdale, outside of Tamworth, when his right hand was crushed in a milling machine.

Brisbane-based Mill HR provided Duralina with labour, including Mr Gerges and other engineers and workers.

Mill HR and Duralina shared a common sole company director and shareholder, Duralina Holding.

The court heard the mill had an unplanned outage on September 3, 2021, which resulted in its eight milling machines being switched off.

Technical miller David Donaldson instructed Mr Gerges over the phone on how to restart the machines.

Mr Gerges restarted seven of the machines but had difficulty with a fine mill roller.

The court heard Mr Donaldson said words to the effect of “go under the mill”, instructing Mr Gerges to get on the floor underneath the fine mill roller.

But Mr Gerges misinterpreted the instruction due to background noise from the mill, instead believing he was being told to place his hands under the fine mill roller in front of him.

Mr Gerges placed his right hand into the fine mill roller, which then caught between the set of rollers.

The man’s hand was stuck between the rollers for about 60 to 90 minutes, until emergency services removed it.

As a result, Mr Gerges suffered serious crush injuries and he had “complete or partial loss of all fingers on his right hand, excluding the thumb”, the court judgment said.

The court found Duralina breached its duty to ensure the plant and digital milling machine were without risks to the health and safety of any person.

It also found Mill HR did not have any safe work procedures or systems in place for employees at the site, instead relying on Duralina to provide the protocols.

Duralina claimed Mr Gerges worked on the fine mill roller four times before the incident, but he told SafeWork NSW inspectors he hadn’t operated the machine previously and wasn’t adequately trained on how to use it.

He also told the inspectors he was unaware of the second set of rollers in the machine, where his hand was caught.

The emergency stop for the fine mill roller was also located about two metres away from the machine.

Mr Gerges had opened a cover near the bottom of the roller with his hands before the incident.

Usually the cover was secured with metal cleats and could only be removed with a special tool, the court heard.

District Court Judge Wendy Strathdee noted at the time of the incident, there was “no interlock or other electronic limiting device to prevent contact with the rollers if the guarding was removed or open”.

A third party consultant’s inspection into Duralina’s systems found there were six hazards at the site related to covers and guards on the mill, which could risk hands, fingers or clothing being pulled into rollers.

The inspection also found there were no devices fitted to prevent the mill from operating when covers were not in place over the moving parts, the court heard.

After the incident, Duralina made multiple changes, including the installation of an emergency stop control on the fine milling machine and limiting switches on all machines, preventing access to moving parts when operating.

Judge Strathdee said risk of a serious crush injury was “obvious” and should have been foreseen by Duralina and Mill HR.

“These were dangerous machines which were operated in such a fashion that the injured worker could not access the emergency stop button.

“There was no one there to assist him, and there is no explanation as to how the guard had been removed, by whom or when.”

But she noted the companies didn’t have prior work health and safety convictions and were unlikely to reoffend.

Duralina was convicted and ordered to pay $56,250.

Mill HR was found guilty, with no conviction recorded.

Originally published as Trapped for 90 mins: Worker loses fingers in horror Duralina wheat milling accident