WorkSafe Victoria | A frozen food manufacturer with a history of workplace health and safety offending has been convicted and fined another $180,000 after a worker’s finger was lacerated in a dough-mixing machine.
Makmur Enterprises Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to failing to provide a safe working environment and failing to provide safe plant with an interlocking guard.
The court also ordered the company to pay $5,816 in costs.
In October 2024, a worker at Makmur’s Richmond factory was operating a dough-mixing machine, using a metal scraper to move dough from the edge of the bowl closer to the agitator.
During this process, the metal scraper struck the rotating agitator blade and the worker’s finger was crushed between the scraper and another part of the machine, causing a laceration that required hospital treatment.
A WorkSafe investigation found that while Makmur had installed a metal grill to reduce access to the rotating agitator blades, there were still large gaps that allowed a person to reach their hand or arm behind the grill into the danger area.
Makmur admitted it was reasonably practicable to have used a combination of fixed and openable guarding connected to an interlock to prevent access to the danger area while the machine was operating.
The company has previously been fined a total of $345,000 after being charged in relation to five similar incidents dating back to 2014.
