Paper Australia fined $30,000 after worker injured by paper machine

The Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court sentenced the company on Thursday 20 March on the single charge and ordered it to pay an additional $10,000 in costs.

The court heard the machine cut large paper rolls into narrower rolls and needed both an operator and an assistant. The assistant worked at the end of the machine, near a danger zone containing slitter blocks and partially guarded slitter knives.

In January 2023, a worker was clearing a blockage as paper was being threaded into the machine. Her arm struck a slitter block, which knocked it into the danger zone.

When she withdrew her arm, she saw a forearm wound measuring about 10 centimetres long, six centimetres wide and two centimetres deep. She was taken to hospital and needed surgery.

WorkSafe's investigation identified that the machine had interlocked guarding designed to keep workers from accessing it during operation. However, the guarding had been disabled because threading the paper required manual work.

The court found Paper Australia could reasonably have provided and maintained a system of work requiring employees to switch off the slitter block drives at the control panel and allow the blocks to wind down to a stop before entering the machine's gated area.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said the serious injury risk was readily apparent and should have been controlled. "This company implemented a much safer system of work for this machine just days after the incident occurred – but it shouldn’t have taken a serious injury to get to that point," Mr Jenkin said.

"Every employer has an obligation to proactively identify hazards in their workplace and control the risk before an incident or injury occurs."

How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your business's approach to workplace health and safety and identify areas that need closer attention. Take the free WHS self-check