One of Australia’s biggest and oldest battery manufacturers has been ordered to review its five most dangerous manual tasks after a worker lost a finger in a horror accident.
The employee’s thumb was also “degloved’’ in the incident, which occurred during a night shift in November, 2020.
The man was rushed to hospital after his hand was caught in a machine at the Century Yuasa Batteries factory in Carole Park in Brisbane’s southwest, but one of his fingers later had to be amputated.
Worksafe Queensland said in a public notice that the worker sustained serious crush injuries while cleaning the rotary divider section of a battery plate production line.
Worksafe said it was alleged the company failed to comply with its health and safety duty under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
The notice said Century Yuasa had accepted an “enforceable undertaking’’ (EU), instead of other enforcement measures.
The EU required Century Yuasa to hire a consultant to identify its top five manual tasks where there was a risk of injury.
It also had to automate production to reduce or eliminate manual handling in the battery assembly area.
A consultant had to be engaged to audit the rotary extender and assembly lines.
he factory is a favourite with politicians, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, ministers and local MPs often showing up for photo opportunities.
Australia’s oldest battery manufacturer, several years ago it added extra night shifts and more than 20 new staff as part of a $21 million expansion to cope with rising demand driven by the work-from-home phenomenon during Covid.
The company, which makes more than 1.5 million batteries a year for cars, trucks and other vehicles, boosted production by 58 per cent after investing in new machinery for lead plates in batteries.
Source: Courier Mail
