Goulburn Valley grower Koala Cherries facing WorkSafe safety charges
A Goulburn Valley fruit grower will upgrade its safety practices and host training events for industry operators after a worker was degloved during her first shift.
Goulburn Valley
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A Goulburn Valley fruit grower will upgrade its safety practices and host training events for industry operators after a worker was degloved during her first shift.
Koala Cherries faced Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on March 5 with two charges of failing to provide a safe plant, failing to provide information, instruction and training to employees and failing to maintain a safe system of work.
The company has entered an enforceable undertaking which is estimated to cost $220,000.
A worker in the company’s Yarck packing facility was sorting cherries during their first shift when they moved to dislodge a box stuck on a conveyor belt.
The worker’s hand was caught where the belt and rollers meet, which is called the pinch point.
The overhead emergency stop cable was pulled but the conveyor belts continued to operate.
Another worker ran to an isolator switch and was able to stop power to the machines.
WorkSafe alleged it was reasonable for Koala Cherries to have guarding on the pinch points of two conveyor belts, provided training to employees and regularly checked the emergency stop cable to ensure it functioned properly.
The worker was taken to hospital and treated for a degloving injury.
The undertaking requires Koala Cherries to upgrade its safety practices and the workplace, provide visual safety aids and videos on the workplace’s key risks, and donate $15,000 to the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF).
The company is also required to collaborate with the VFF and two other industry organisations to create, publish and distribute standard operating procedures and template competency tests including for manual handling, operation of machines such as tractors, ATVs and boomsprays and spraying, storage and handling of chemicals.
Koala Cherries will also host two free training events with the VFF for industry operators that address topics including incident reporting and the most common risks associated with plant, equipment and machinery on farms.
WorkSafe may reinstate the charges if the undertaking is not complied with or withdrawn.
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