WorkSafe Victoria | A recycling company has been convicted and fined $35,000 after six workers were injured in an aerosol gas explosion at its Shepparton plant.
Rose and Co Services Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and one charge under the Dangerous Goods Act.
The company was fined $30,000 for failing to provide a safe system of work and $5,000 for breaching Dangerous Goods Regulations by failing to instruct workers on the nature of hazards and properties of dangerous goods at the workplace. It was also ordered to pay $5,292 in costs.
Rose and Co Services recycled items such as aerosol cans, the contents of which are classified as Class 2.1 Dangerous Goods, using an item of plant known as a “shredder” to cut them into smaller pieces.
The court heard that in May 2023, the machine was being used to shred aerosol cans when an explosion injured six workers, including two who were airlifted to the Alfred Hospital’s Burns Unit.
Prosecutors told the court that flames from the explosion spread up to 18 metres from the shredder before workers used fire extinguishers to stop the blaze.
A worker who was clearing scrap metal from beneath the shredder at the time suffered severe burns to his back and arms, while a second worker, who was on a forklift next to the shredder, sustained severe burns to his face and upper body.
Four other workers required hospital treatment for superficial burns.
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