PCBU Contractor Who Supplied Belt Technician Fined $212,500 under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW)

A PCBU contractor that supplied Belt Technician Mr Douglas Bennett to complete the joint on a newly installed conveyor belt at a cement facility in New Berrima has been convicted and fined $212,500 under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) by the NSW District Court. The contractor was one of three workgroups engaged to complete a work order to replace the conveyor belt on a seven-storey preheater tower.

The Incident

During the change-out, only ‘some’ of the buckets were installed on the new belt. This resulted in the weight of the buckets on the belt not being evenly spread. As the belt was pulled vertically by the auxiliary motor and has passed over the head pulley on level 7, the weight on the descending side has exceeded the ascending side. This caused the belt to go into free run and override the auxiliary motor that was driving the belt at a slow speed over the pulley. The kinetic energy from the fall has fed back into the gear box, causing the fluid coupling to exceed its safe design speed of 1,500 RPM to approximately 13,000 RPM. This overspeed caused the coupling to explode, dispersing metal shrapnel and hot hydraulic fluid at a high velocity across level 7 of the tower. The workgroup described the noise from the coupling being ‘like a jet engine’ and immediately ran to evacuate the area. It was later identified that there were 114 of the required 229 buckets installed on the belt. Further, there was no power supply to the main motor at the time of the incident.

The Injuries

Mr Bennett was the last worker to evacuate the area while attempting to escape via a staircase. During his attempted evacuation from the work area, he was struck on the back of the head by a cast alloy fragment from the coupling. The impact was forceful enough to dislodge his hard hat and he was later found unconscious, bleeding and covered in cement dust. Site paramedics provided immediate medical treatment before Mr Bennett was transported to Bowral Hospital.

As a result of the incident, Mr Bennett sustained multiple skull fractures, six broken ribs and a moderate traumatic brain injury that has resulted in ongoing migraines and headaches. He also suffers vision and hearing loss, requires the use of hearing aids, experiences bowel and stomach complications and has difficulties walking due to ongoing numbness in his right leg and foot.

The Early Guilty Plea

The contractor pled guilty on the second day of trial to the Category 2 (s 32) offence after accepting their responsibility for a breach of its duty under s 19(1) of the Act. Further, that their failure was ‘a substantial cause’ of their worker ‘being exposed to a risk of death or serious injury’.