A Queensland wood company and its director were fined over $100,000 in relation to an incident involving an untrained and unsupervised worker who had his fingers crushed while operating a log splitter during a work trial (WorkSafe Queensland v Toowoomba Firewood Pty Ltd).

Toowoomba Firewood Pty Ltd is in the business of producing firewood. On the day of the incident, a worker was given verbal instructions by a supervisor on the use of a log splitter. The explanation took no more than 5 minutes and no demonstration was provided. A few hours later, the worker placed his hands on both ends of a large log when using the splitter, causing his right hand to be crushed and his index finger ultimately to have to be amputated, with associated loss of function to other fingers.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to comply with its primary duty of care to provide adequate training and supervision. The company also pleaded guilty to failing to notify the regulator of the incident and to failing to preserve the site of the incident. The director was sentenced for failure to exercise due diligence to ensure the company took the appropriate steps to manage the risks of the work task.

In sentencing, the Court took into account the guilty pleas, remorse and the fact that both the company and its director had no prior history of offences under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld).

However, the objective seriousness of the offence, in light of the simple remedial steps that could have been implemented, led the Court to impose fines on the company of $85,000 for the general duty breach and $5,000 for each failure to notify and preserve the site. The director was also personally fined $12,500.