Lencia Fruit Juices Pty Ltd workplace accident: Employee’s hand caught in machine

A Mildura juice company employee whose right hand was “de-gloved” by shoddy equipment still has nightmares about the horrific incident.

Mildura-based Lencia Fruit Juices produced a range of juice products.

A much-loved Mildura juice company has been slammed in court for failing to provide a safe workplace, a court has heard.

Lencia Fruit Juices Pty Ltd, which went into liquidation earlier this year, was before Mildura Magistrates’ Court on Monday over an incident on June 17 last year.

The court was told Lencia earlier that month had bought and installed a second-hand bottling machine, to replace a decades-old model that had worn out.

Previously, Lencia had used square and round shaped bottles for their products, but the replacement machine was designed for oblong shaped bottles.

An interchangeable plate on the machine did not fit the bottles Lencia were using, resulting in bottles getting caught and causing the machine to jam. The machine did not have any guarding.

On June 17, employee Joshua Parker noticed a number of empty bottles had fallen.

When he reached into the machine to remove them his right hand became caught and was dragged into the machine.

Another employee hit the emergency stop button and called triple-0.

Parker was taken to Mildura Base Hospital before being transferred to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for surgery.

He suffered a partial de-gloving of his right hand, a burst tendon and nerve damage.

After the incident, a cage was installed around the machine to prevent employees from reaching in, as well as extra guarding.

Lencia was charged with failing to provide or maintain a plant that was safe and without risks to health.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Parker said he still had nightmares about the incident and was seeing a psychologist.

Basic tasks were now difficult to manage due to nerve damage, loss of feeling and scarring, and he was no longer working on cars or ride motorbikes – things he loved to do before his accident.

After Parker’s Melbourne surgery, he moved in with his mother in Adelaide, where he began seeing a hand specialist.

He continued to see the specialist after moving back to Mildura, although this stopped when the South Australian border closed.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said it appeared the replacing of equipment was “a bit of a rush job” that didn’t include adequate guarding or instruction to employees.

Mr Coghlan said Parker now had genuine concern about how he would earn an income in the future.

Mr Coghlan also acknowledged that because of its liquidation, any penalty “may not necessarily be one that is met by the company”.

Lencia were convicted and fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $1654.83 to WorkSafe.

Mr Coghlan said he hoped Parker would be appropriately compensated when the matter goes through the litigation process.