Doctors were forced to amputate the leg of a concrete plant worker after he was crushed by a two-tonne gate during an horrific workplace accident.
Ransberg Pty Ltd — which trades as WA Premix — was fined $580,000 in the Joondalup Magistrates Court last week after pleading guilty to causing the worker serious harm through a failure to provide a safe workplace.
The shocking incident happened at a concrete batching plant in Neerabup, in Perth’s north, in December 2020.
The plant employee was emptying a large waste pit — a two person job he was doing solo — when the gate fell forward, “hitting the worker first in the chest then continuing forward to strike his left leg above the knee, then his shin and ankle”.
“He suffered multiple open fractures and other injuries that ultimately resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee,” WorkSafe said in a statement.
The pits are used to hold waste products from the concrete mixing process, and are regularly drained an emptied.
They are three metres wide and 1.5m high and include a removable front wall — known as the gate — which weighs about two tonnes.
It is usually held in place by four wedge pins, but is secured by a chain when they are knocked out.
On the morning of the accident, the worker could not find the chain but still removed all of the pins and the gate “fell forward”.
Worker ‘could have been spared the life-changing injury’
Sally North, commissioner for WA’s workplace safety watchdog, said the incident was entirely preventable.
“At the time of this incident, there was no supporting mechanism in place to prevent the gate from falling if it wasn’t attached to the lifting chains,” North said.
“After the incident two simple supporting blocks were welded to the front of the gate to hold it in place when the pins are removed.
“Further improvements have since been made that eliminate the need for lifting chains and a front-end loader, with forklift lifting pockets now added to the gates.”
North said the injured worker and colleagues at the plant “had not received any formal training” before the accident.
Comprehensive procedures are now in place and staff have undergone safety education.
“If these actions had been taken sooner, the injured worker would have been spared the life-changing injury he suffered,” North said.
“This case is a reminder of the crucial importance of assessing every risk in a workplace in consultation with workers and putting into place safe work procedures that workers are trained in and are using.”
On top of the $580,000 fine, Ransberg was ordered to pay $6180 in costs.