Coolaroo recycling plant pays out $195k after worker loses hand
THE recycling giant responsible for a toxic week-long fire in Melbourne’s north that continues to burn has been fined almost $200,000 over a horrific workplace injury.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Dead fish discovered after Coolaroo recycling fire
- Drone captures extent of huge Coolaroo recycling factory fire
- Residents and businesses sign up for Coolaroo fire class action
- Coolaroo factory stockpile ‘illegal’
THE recycling giant responsible for a toxic week-long fire in Melbourne’s north that continues to burn has been fined almost $200,000 over a horrific workplace injury.
Representatives from SKM Recycling on Thursday fronted Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court, where it was fined $150,000 and ordered to pay $45,000 costs to the Victorian WorkCover Authority fund.
Gavin Van La, 39, lost his right hand when it was crushed by a metal bailing machine in October 2014 at SKM’s Coolaroo recycling plant, where the fire is still burning. SKM had contested three charges brought under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, but was found guilty of failing to provide workers with a safe workplace.
The penalty came as more than 30 firefighters entered their seventh day of trying to extinguish the blaze.
They are expected to remain at the site for several days to ensure the fire is extinguished before handing the site back to its owners.
In relation to Mr La’s injury, VWA prosecutor Justin Hannebery said SKM had been put on notice that the bailing machines needed tunnel guards, but it had failed to provide them for staff using them.
He said workers knew they risked having their hands crushed or sliced off by the machines.
“This was a risk that was inherent in their day-to-day work ... it was a risk that existed from the moment the bailers were there.”
Mr Hannebery said the guards could have been provided at minimal cost. “It’s a very serious breach,” he said.
Robert Taylor, for SKM, said the company had remedied the problem within a day of the accident.
He said the company conceded that it knew the machines were dangerous and should have done more to make them safe.
He said the company’s owners had gone above and beyond their requirements by law to help Mr La and deeply regretted the incident.
But in a further insult to Mr La, his insurance payments have since been terminated in the wake of medical advice to SKM’s insurer that he had the capacity to find a new job.
The insurer did not reverse the decision at conciliation and that matter is now set to return to court.
Mr La told Leader Newspapers in April: “It does make me angry and frustrated that I can’t work — I feel useless sometimes as I can’t do a lot of things I used to do.”
More than 70 residents and business owners are also set to pursue a class action against SKM over the impact of the ongoing fire.
This week about 100 fish were found dead at Jack Roper Reserve lake in Coolaroo, after water used on the fire seeped into waterways.
The Environment Protection Authority warned that more fish could die and said the public and their pets should avoid waterways.
Sampling at the lake and at Merlynston Creek found extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen that “would not support aquatic life”, and high levels of the E. coli bug.