Spartan Steel Industries has been fined after a worker was trapped under steel load, resulting in the working being taken to hospital and requiring surgery.

Spartan Steel Industries was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace. The company was fined without conviction and ordered to pay $12,213 in costs.

“It shouldn’t take a life-changing injury like the one suffered by this worker for employers to sit up and take notice of their responsibilities,” WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Narelle Beer says.

“It’s critical that employers have systems in place to ensure work is planned out before it starts and that it’s conducted only by workers properly trained and qualified to do so.”

A WorkSafe investigation found the worker did not hold the high-risk work licence required for dogging work and was therefore not trained in the slinging techniques she was applying during the lift. The company had also failed to keep records of workers who held high risk work licences.

When using cranes, measures to manage the risks include selecting the proper crane and lifting equipment for the task, size and weight of the load, ensuring cranes are maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications and requirements and operated within their design parameters and checking that crane operators and persons connecting loads have the skills, training and licences to operate safely.

Furthermore, creating and adhering to safe systems of work and ensuring all workers are properly trained and competent before commencing the task will also provide as a measure to manage the risks for crane use as well as considering environmental factors such as weather, ground bearing capacity, overhead and underground services such as power lines and pipes/drains and ensuring non-essential persons are excluded from the area of operation.

For construction work, ensuring a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is created and adhered to is recommended.