Two Victorian companies have been hit with significant financial penalties following a horrific workplace incident that left a female worker with multiple finger amputations.
Court Hands Down Verdict After Gruesome Incident
In the Korumburra Magistrates Court on December 10, labour hire provider MJ Dijamco and employer Cummaudo Farms were both sentenced for their roles in the June 2023 accident. The court heard the worker, supplied by MJ Dijamco, was on her first shift at the Cummaudo potato and onion farm in Mirboo North.
Her task involved using an onion grader machine to remove stems. Believing a co-worker had shut down the equipment, she reached into its upper section to dislodge two onions. Tragically, the machine was still operational, and her hand became entangled in the rotating rollers.
"Hearing her screams, the coworker pressed the emergency stop button," WorkSafe Victoria stated. The injured worker was rushed to hospital, where she underwent the amputation of several fingers on her right hand.
Systemic Safety Failures Exposed by Investigation
A subsequent WorkSafe investigation uncovered multiple, fundamental safety breaches. The onion grader had no guarding around its dangerous rotating rollers and sizing belt. Furthermore, neither company had provided the worker with any training on how to operate the machinery or information about its specific danger points.
Cummaudo Farms admitted it could have easily installed a fixed cage to prevent access to the rollers during operation and failed to provide necessary training. The court also found MJ Dijamco at fault for not having a system to verify that the host workplace had provided its labour hire workers with adequate safety instruction.
Substantial Fines and a Safety Warning
MJ Dijamco was found guilty ex-parte on a single charge of failing to provide safe systems of work and was fined $40,000. Cummaudo pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to provide and maintain safe plant and another of failing to provide adequate information and training, receiving a $25,000 fine without conviction. Both companies were also ordered to pay costs of $5,641.
WorkSafe's acting chief health and safety officer, Barb Hill, said the case was a stark reminder of non-negotiable safety standards. "Proper training and appropriate guarding are fundamental when it comes to machinery," she said. "As we’ve seen far too many times, neglecting such measures can have gruesome, life-altering consequences."
She issued a direct warning to the labour hire industry: "Labour hire providers can’t simply send their workers to a job and assume safety will be wholly managed by someone else — they must actively confirm that their workers are trained and risks are appropriately controlled."
