A Dandenong benchtop manufacturer has been convicted and fined $51,000 after a worker was crushed by a 300-kilogram stone slab.
The employee at Baltic Stonemason Professionals Group (BSPG) Pty Ltd was working alone on his second day on the job.
BSPG was found guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court of three workplace safety breaches including failing to provide necessary information, training and supervision for employees.
In sentencing on 20 February, it was also ordered to pay costs of $5674.
In August 2023, an assistant at the company’s Dandenong warehouse was attempting to pry apart two stone slabs on a storage rack to position a grab clamp for lifting via a davit crane.
The court heard the worker used his hand to pull forward one of the two-metre wide slabs, which then fell onto his chest and shoulders, shattering on impact.
The injured worker was able to crawl out from beneath the slab before he was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital.
WorkSafe’s investigators found the injured worker was not supervised at the time of the incident.
He had only been given verbal instructions on how to move slabs after returning to the workplace in a new role the day before, following an 18 month absence.
Investigators also found there was no restraint in front of the slabs and that the injured worker had been standing in the fall shadow at the time of the incident.
The court heard the company had initially failed to comply with an improvement notice requiring it to update its standard operating procedures and ensure all employees were trained.
WorkSafe health and safety executive director Sam Jenkin said employers must ensure every worker has the training and supervision to work safely, especially when starting a new job or returning to work.
“Every worker deserves, and is owed, information about the hazards involved in their work – there’s simply no excuse for failing to take the time to properly train a worker,” Mr Jenkin said.
“A stone slab or any other object weighing 300 kilograms could easily kill someone, this is hazardous work that should never be undertaken by untrained and unsupervised workers.”
