The Department of Education has been convicted and fined $150,000 after a student had three fingers severed during a jewellery design class at Beechworth Secondary College.
It was also ordered to pay $4,664 in costs.
The court heard the 15-year-old student and three classmates were using a guillotine to cut a piece of brass in February 2024.
As the student held the metal at the rear of the machine, with his fingers away from the cutting blade but still near a shear point between the edge of the beam and the table, one of his classmates activated the foot pedal.
Another classmate realised the student’s hand was in the guillotine’s danger area and called out to stop, but the beam had already dropped, amputating three fingertips on the student’s left hand.
A WorkSafe investigation found the guillotine was kept in an unlocked storeroom, making it accessible to students, and there was no guarding on the machine’s rear danger area.
Although no students had been assessed as competent to operate the guillotine in 2024, the group had been permitted to enter the storeroom and there was no teacher present when the incident occurred.
The Department of Education admitted it was reasonably practicable to have reduced the risk of serious injury by providing a guillotine with guarding which prevented access to the rear of the machine, maintaining records of students who were trained in its safe use, only permitting those students to use the guillotine, and providing adequate supervision while they did so.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said no student should suffer life-changing injuries because basic safety measures were overlooked.
“Machinery can seriously injure even experienced workers so training, appropriate guarding and supervision is always essential – particularly in a learning environment,” Mr Jenkin said.
“Children should not be expected to recognise and manage these hazards on their own and the incident could have been prevented if the school had more robust procedures in place.”
Source: WorkSafe Vic
