On 25 August 2025, a fabrication company was sentenced in the Townsville Magistrates Court for breaching section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) ('the Act’), having failed to comply with its primary health and safety duty.

The defendant operated a business in the fabrication of toilet and shower blocks and employed workers who did this work at their warehouse premises. At the warehouse there was a Triton Series 2000 Workcentre WCA201 with a Makita circular saw N5900B attached to it which was infrequently used at the workplace as a table saw (‘the plant’). The defendant had not assessed the risk posed to a worker operating the plant and did not have a safe work procedure for it. Workers for the defendant had not received training in relation to using the plant and had not seen its instruction manual.

On 30 January 2023 a worker of the defendant company was at the workplace fabricating a shower base which required the cutting of timber for the base. He asked another worker to assist him to cut the timber using the plant. Both workers positioned themselves behind the plant feeding the 3.2 metre timber lengthwise into the operating saw blade which was unguarded.  As the workers fed the timber in, the teeth of the saw blade grabbed the timber and rapidly propelled it forward while the plant moved backward towards the workers. As this occurred, the rear leg of the plant folded in, and the plant tipped on its side to the ground. As the plant tipped over the rotating blade struck one of the worker’s buttocks and leg. He was transported to hospital and found to have sustained serious injuries to his leg, including a cut artery, multiple severed muscles, tendons and nerves and a fractured fibula. He underwent numerous surgeries and was hospitalised for two weeks.

Work Health and Safety Queensland investigated and found that the safety guard was not attached to the plant as per the Manual; the left-hand rear leg of the plant was missing parts of the spring-loaded pin, which meant it could not be ‘locked’ into position; and that workers had fed the timber into the plant from the rear end when the plant was designed for it to be fed into the saw blade from the front.

In sentencing the defendant, Magistrate Mosch identified the breach being based on the failure to guard against the risk the plant posed to the workers. His Honour noted the deficiencies found during the investigation into the incident and the need for the penalty imposed to send a message to other employers to ensure obligations imposed under the Act are subject to compliance. Magistrate Mosch outlined the failure to do so, putting workers at risk of injury and having that risk materialized is something that is to be denounced. 

His Honour took into account the defendant’s plea of guilty, cooperation with the investigation and steps it took subsequent to the incident to update training and provide further safety procedures. It was also noted that the defendant company had no prior history.

A fine of $50,000 was imposed with no conviction recorded.

OWHSP contact: enquiries@owhsp.qld.gov.au