Mackay Sugar pleads guilty to severe workplace accident at Racecourse Sugar Mill

A Queensland sugar company has pled guilty after a worker had her fingers crushed and severed during a workplace incident.

Mackay Sugar CEO Carl Morton appeared in the Mackay Magistrate’s Court on behalf of his company after a woman severed her fingers in a workplace incident . Photo: Emily Smith / The Daily Mercury.

A major sugar manufacturer was taken to court for a horror workplace incident that left a worker with three of her fingers severed and crushed.

Trudy Maunder had been doing a routine water test at a Mackay Racecourse Mill water catchment pond when an attempt to activate a decrepit water pump by grasping a drive belt and putting pressure on it got her left hand caught and entangled by a rotating belt on September 1, 2021.

“Ms Maunder’s left hand was dragged with the drive belts which resulted in the severing and crushing of the top of three of her fingers, her ring finger, her middle and her index finger,” Prosecutor Tom Ward from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland said.

The incident occurred near the Mackay Sugar's Racecourse Mill. Supplied by Mackay Sugar

CEO of Mackay Sugar, Carl Zane Morton, appeared in the Mackay Magistrate’s court on Thursday May 29 on behalf of his company and pled guilty to the failure to comply with workplace health and safety measures facing a maximum penalty of $1.5m.

The court heard that Ms Maunder’s act of pressing the drive belts to activate the pump was “ordinary practice” amongst Mackay Sugar workers when the pump didn’t start because of how “poorly maintained” it was.

The court also heard that the pump had been unguarded for a period of 18 months between March 2020 and September 2021.

“Adjusting bolts heavily corroded, dry with no oil, grease lubricant or rust prevention coatings and the cooling fans screen guard on the end was completely corroded away with jagged metal edges and offering no safety protection for workers against the risk of entanglement,” Mr Ward said.

“The steps available were obvious, the implementation of guarding would have eliminated the risk.”

Mr Ward submitted for a fine of between $110,000 and $130,000 with a conviction recorded.

Defence lawyer Aaron Anderson from Herbert Smith Freehills argued a fine of $60,000 and $100,000 was adequate, adding that his client took responsibility for the fact that the pump was unguarded for a period of 18 months.

The company was pushing for a fine of between $60,000 and $100,000 without any conviction recorded. Picture: Supplied

But he said a recorded conviction was not necessary given that it was not an ordinary task to apply pressure on the drive belt and that had only arisen in a short period prior to the incident.

“We’re not running a defence and we’re not saying that the act of the worker was not foreseeable,” he said.

“In circumstances where the plant breaks down, it should be in the contemplation of the employer’s mind that workers might take steps to try and get it up and running to get the job done.”

He argued that Mackay Sugar had a system in place that would have helped mitigate the risk of Ms Maunder’s incident.

“Suddenly after a period of time, the belt doesn’t work. I’m going to make a decision to interact with the belt.

“What does a company put in place in that satiation?

“The company says, if you’re out in the field and there’s a change, go an reassess it.”

Mr Anderson argued that Mackay Sugar had since put in place a guard on the pump and that the pump system is no longer used by workers.

Mackay Sugar is the second largest sugar manufacturing company in the country. Photo: QUT/Erika Fish

“This simply can’t happen again,” he said.

Mr Anderson said that given Mackay Sugar’s longstanding contribution to the Mackay region, his client’s company was a good corporate citizen

Prosecutor Mr Ward said he had no problem with that submission though noting that the sugar giant had a prior conviction.

Acting Magistrate Patricia Kirkman-Scroope told the court that she would reserve her decision until a date was decided noting she “couldn’t give a complete and well considered decision within the hour”.

Originally published as Mackay Sugar pleads guilty to severe workplace accident at Racecourse Sugar Mill