A Victorian cleaning contractor has received a $30,000 fine without conviction after a night shift cleaner suffered a crushed right hand inside a meat grinder, with the court finding that the company delivered its training and safe work procedures in English to a workforce that included many Karen and Burmese speakers.
Eco Facility Services Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Wyndham Magistrates’ Court to an offence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, and the court ordered it to pay $5500 in costs. WorkSafe Victoria brought the prosecution. The company cleans and sanitises a food processing site that packages meat products for supermarket chains.
The incident unfolded at about 9:30pm on 16 May 2024, when the worker was cleaning a Marel COMBIgrind 3126 meat grinder on line 17. The job required her to remove the machine’s internal parts and wash away leftover product with pressurised water. After finding the product stuck near the feeding worm, she asked a colleague for help and reached into the lower chute to free it.
While her hand remained inside the chute, the colleague climbed the service stairs to the external operating panel, where an obstructed view hid the chute from sight. Unaware of her hand’s position, the colleague activated the machine’s JOG function, which turned the feeding worm through one full rotation, and a paddle crushed her right hand.
The injured worker found a supervisor in the change rooms and reported the incident. An ambulance took her to St Vincent’s Hospital, where she spent four nights and underwent two operations for crush injuries.
Training that fell short
By pleading guilty, the company accepted that it failed to provide information, instruction and training on the machine’s safe work procedure in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way, which includes interpreters and translated materials. English proficiency among the affected workers was limited.
The court found that the company gave its workers training, yet the delivery fell short. It rated the offending as mid-range and a marked departure from accepted safety standards, and it observed that workers who speak English as a second language face high vulnerability because of communication gaps. It also judged the likelihood of harm as high, given the type of machinery involved.
In the company’s favour, the court weighed its guilty plea, remorse, early cooperation with investigators, lack of prior convictions, extensive safety systems and prompt response after the incident. It accepted that a recorded conviction would damage the company’s prospects of winning future contracts, and it said that without the plea it would have imposed a $50,000 fine with conviction.
For cleaning contractors that supply labour to food processors and other high-risk sites, the outcome sets an expectation that interpreters and translated procedures form part of compliant training for workers who speak English as a second language.
