Chaff cutting company fined $75,000 over accident that took teen's legs

The employer of a teenage worker who lost both legs in a workplace accident has been fined $75,000 for safety breaches.

Mark Geoffrey Donaldson, trading as Cressy Chaff Cutters, had previously pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court in Launceston to failing to comply with health and safety duties, category two.

In July 2013, Joshua Berrell, 19, was loading seed and chaff into a mixing machine when a bag became caught and he was dragged into the machine.

The danger was foreseeable that a worker could fall into the machine while it was operating.

In sentencing, Magistrate Simon Brown said the teenager "suffered terrible injuries" including a fractured pelvis, his left leg being amputated above the knee, and his right knee being dislocated.

Mr Berrell's right leg later had to be surgically amputated.

The magistrate said the mixing machine had been altered so it was elevated on metal legs and workers had to mount a platform above it to tip in seed and chaff.

There was no guard on the top of the machine and no emergency stop button that could be reached from the platform.

"The machine had been modified quite significantly and, in my view, dangerously by elevating it on metal legs so it had to be filled from above. This significantly increased the risk that a worker could fall into it," Mr Brown said.

"Here the danger was foreseeable that a worker could fall into the machine while it was operating.

"The potential risk if they fell into a mixer was that very serious injuries would result."

He said Mr Donaldson had verbally explained to another employee, called Mr Davenport, that the machine should be switched off before a worker ascended to fill it, but said there were no written safety systems.

On the day Mr Berrell was injured he was operating the machine alone and did not switch it off before starting to fill it.

"The defendant's plan and equipment did not allow for the risk of work's haste, ignorance or overzealousness. In many ways it was reliant on Mr Davenport following verbal instructions," the magistrate said.

Mr Brown accepted that Mr Donaldson had expressed remorse and pleaded guilty at an early stage, and that he had since improved safety in the workplace.

However he noted the defendant had a previous relevant conviction for a workplace breach that resulted in a child's leg being amputated in 1999.

He fined Mr Donaldson $75,000 plus court costs.

The maximum penalty available was a fine of $300,000.