Treviso Farms: Mildura company pleads guilty to not providing safe work conditions

A Mildura company has copped a hefty fine after a worker was impaled on farm machinery that didn’t have safety guarding.

Photo by SAFIN HAMED / AFP

A Mildura farm has been fined more than $20,000 after a worker impaled his arm on machinery that required three months of rehab, a court has heard.

Treviso Farms was found guilty in the Mildura Magistrates Court over charges including not providing safe working conditions.

Court documents reveal on 21 April 2020 the victim, who was not named in court, tried to fix a bolt which had come loose.

But while doing so he knocked a lever and his arm was pulled into a rotating shaft, peeling back his skin.

The hydraulic lever did not have the appropriate guarding in place to stop it from being knocked into the operating position, court documents state.

He suffered a bone fracture, ligament and nerve damage which required surgery.

Court documents say the worker was forced to take three months off work and had to participate in ongoing rehab to be able to use his arm properly again.

WorkSafe visited the site shortly after the incident and deemed it unsafe and issued an improvement notice.

The company then installed guarding around the lever, bolt, and shaft.

It also replaced the lever with one that returns to a neutral position when not being held.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said the company had “provided to charitable groups” and “immediately took steps to rectify difficulties”.