By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Dandenong South paint manufacturer has been fined without conviction after a worker was dragged by the arm into a spinning paint-mixer.
Regent Paints Pty Ltd pleaded guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court to failing to provide a safe workplace in which its factory-hand Leon Hamer almost lost his arm.
As was the company custom, the 44-year-old worker held sandpaper to the spinning shaft of the 22-kilowatt Onslow Disburser in order to clean off a build-up of paint on 6 October 2020.
He was pulled in by his left arm and entangled around the shaft above the plant’s 40-centimetre blades.
As he screamed for help, his workmates came to his aid and moved to turn off the electric mains.
Mr Hamer was trapped in the machine for 45 minutes until extracted by emergency services.
There was no emergency shut-off for the machine, nor any formal training regime, a Victorian WorkSafe Authority (VWA) lawyer told the court on 9 December.
Regent Paints trained employees by word of mouth and demonstrations of the cleaning process, the lawyer said.
Mr Hamer underwent surgery in The Alfred hospital to “reattach” his arm, he told the court in his victim impact statement.
He suffered multiple fractures to his arm, ribs and sternum, had skin grafted from his thigh and multiple plates and screws inserted.
He has continued to receive further surgeries, physio and counselling. The pain, the near-complete loss of strength in his left arm and the flashbacks and night terrors linger.
Since the injuries, he has not gone back to work. He struggles to hold a cup of coffee in his left hand.
“Every aspect of my life has been affected by these injuries,” he told the court.
Regent Paints had operated the mixer and two identical machines for more than 20 years without incident or a near miss.
The 30-year-old company and its director Barrie Allcorn had no prior workplace safety convictions or incidents.
Within six weeks, it rectified the faults by installing guards and automatic switches to prevent workers reaching into the machines to clean them.
Regent Paints argued that the safety risk had been low due to the lack of incidents.
But magistrate Jacinta Studham said the manner of cleaning the plant’s spinning shaft with attached blades was “high risk”.
She found the company had held a “genuine incorrect belief” that the cleaning method didn’t place workers at risk of serious injury.
“I don’t believe the company had a total disregard to safety and training.”
Regent Paints’ offence was a “mid-range” example of failing to provide a safe workplace.
The “good corporate citizen” had since the incident shown remorse and “took the matter seriously”.
Ms Studham thanked Mr Hamer for his “genuine and compelling” victim impact statement, which outlined the significant physical and emotional toll on him.
“The consequences to Mr Hamer cannot be disregarded.”
Ms Studham took into account a financial penalty would have a significant impact on the small family-run business.
But it also must reflect the community’s high expectations that no worker should be at risk of serious injury at work.
She fined Regent Paints $20,000 plus $4409 costs. No conviction was imposed as it would be neither “appropriate” or “warranted”.
The maximum penalty is more than $413,000.
Meanwhile, Mr Hamer is sueing Regent Paints for compensation for his pain and suffering, loss of past and future income, loss of enjoyment of life.
In this case, Regent Paints is also indemnified by the VWA – which means the VWA effectively would pay any compensation.
Shine Lawyers legal practice manager Ashleigh Kemp said it was fighting for Mr Hamer in the civil matter for the “compensation and justice he deserves”.
“I was pleased Leon had the chance to read his Victim Impact Statement to the Court about the impact the negligence of the Defendant employer has had on his life.
“A conviction against the Defendant employer would have served as a powerful incentive to improve workplace health and safety practices to ensure this never happens again.”
Thirteen people have died at work and more than 4000 injury claims have been made in Melbourne’s South East in a 12-month period, according to WorkSafe statistics.
The staggering data relates to the council areas of Cardinia, Casey, Greater Dandenong, Kingston, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula in 2021-‘22.
