A timber company has been fined over a fatal accident that saw a young father become caught in a conveyor belt before he was impaled on machinery.
The accident
Rasta Kemp, 24, was killed while unloading timber from a Benalla timber mill in north-east Victoria in May 2018.
The father-of-one’s clothes got trapped in a conveyor belt mechanism which dragged him along until he was impaled on a metal pallet, known as a stillage, used to store materials, according to 7News.
WorkSafe Victoria found timber company D&R Henderson could have prevented such an accident from happening by covering the conveyor belt.
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‘Investigators found it would have been reasonably practicable for the company to instruct employees about the risk of becoming entangled on the rotating shaft, where to position themselves to avoid this, and to contact a supervisor to arrange repairs if the belts came off the conveyors,’ WorkSafe said.
D&R Henderson pleaded guilty in Melbourne County Court on Thursday to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company was fined a total of $350,000 for failing to maintain safe systems of work and for failing to provide safety information and training to employees.
