"suffered a fractured left femur and fractured right wrist..."

The use of oversea containers for transportation of raw materials and finish products is commonplace. Some aluminium companies perform these services. While some aluminium companies use outside contractors. Regardless of who performs this service. The hazards of loading and unloading of material into and out of ocean containers are highlighted in this incident.

 

An Australian road and rail transport company has been ordered to pay $90,000 following a shipping container loading incident that injured a worker.

 

The SafeWork NSW prosecution highlighted the importance of transport operator safeguards around shipping containers.

 

The company pleaded guilty to a Work Health and Safety Act breach that exposed a worker to serious risk of injury in a 2018 incident.

 

While carrying out his work, (the worker) was standing beside the shipping container while another was using a forklift to load aluminium billets into a shipping container. The 2.3 tonne load shifted and fell on him pinning him against the shipping container wall.

 

The then 30-year-old suffered a fractured left femur and fractured right wrist.

(The shipping company) has for many years been involved in transporting aluminium products in shipping containers destined for overseas customers.

 

However the business accepted that it did not address the specific risk of prohibiting workers from remaining inside a shipping container while they were placing cardboard between aluminium billets and while forklift trucks were being operated inside the container.

 

The NSW District court also found company shortcomings in inducting/re-inducting and training/re-training workers in relation to the safe work procedure or method statement when they started work in the Alloy Department, and adequate supervision of workers while they were they working within the Alloy Department.

 

Following the incident, SafeWork NSW issued an Improvement Notice to (shipping company). In response, (shipping company) has changed its system so packing of short billets into the shipping containers is performed by the forklift operator working alone. That operator was to pack the cardboard, while the forklift was not in operation.

 

A safety alert was also issued, all employees were re-trained in relation to the amendments made to the Unloading and Package of Aluminium standard operating procedure, and toolbox talks were held in relation to the incident and safety procedures. (the shipping company) was found to have taken positive steps to guard against the risk of an incident such as this ever happening again.

 

It was also heard that (the shipping company) has shown remorse for the offence and accepted responsibility for its actions.

 

With an early guilty plea, (shipping company) fine was reduced by 25 per cent from an initial $120,000.

 

We pray that the injured worker recovered fully from his injury. We have reported on numerous incidents in the past where a load shifted and pinned a worker injuring or killing the workers.

 

Workers should always have an escape route when handling any material that could injure or kill them. Unfortunately, when loading an overseas container the escape route is the only door that material is brought through.

 

As with every incident we hope the reader will print this blog post out if their workplace loads/unloads ocean containers.

 

Please comment.