Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group pleads guilty over hot oil incident at Frankston pub
A popular Frankston pub has been hit with a big fine after hot oil spilt on two workers.
South East
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The operator of popular Frankston pub The Cheeky Squire has been fined $35,000 after two chefs were burned in a hot oil spill.
One of the workers suffered serious burns that required a skin graft and a two week stay in hospital after the incident in January 2021.
The accident happened when another chef tripped over a box while transferring oil from deep fryers to a waste facility at the back of the restaurant’s kitchen.
Hot oil from an open pot the chef was carrying spilt onto a chef standing nearby, causing second degree burns to his legs and minor burns to his back.
The chef carrying the pot of oil also suffered minor burns to various parts of her body.
WorkSafe was only notified of the incident the following day.
Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group was last week sentenced in Frankston Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and failing to notify WorkSafe immediately after an incident.
The company was also ordered to pay $4,409 in costs.
A WorkSafe investigation revealed the use of pots to move hot oil was not usual practice, but had been ongoing for two months because a portable filtration system was not working.
The chef carrying the pot was employed four weeks prior to the incident and was unaware that the oil filtration machine existed.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group to have provided a safe system of work for the oil transfer process and to have provided supervision to ensure workers undertook the task safely and without risks to health.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said the incident was a reminder that workplace safety must be made a priority each and every day.
“This employer had an appropriate safe work procedure in place to control the safety risk but it wasn’t being followed because a crucial piece of equipment was broken,” Dr Beer said.
“When part of a safe work system is no longer effective, it’s critically important that duty holders introduce further control measures to ensure their workers remain protected.”