A NSW engineering company has been fined $150,000 after a boilermaker lost part of his foot when a steel beam weighing more than half a tonne fell on him.

On 14 September 2013, the 30 year old boilermaker was moving and unpacking steel beams when three beams fell from their frame with one beam which weighed more than half a tonne landed on the boilermaker’s foot, resulting in four toes and part of his foot being amputated.

SafeWork NSW prosecuted the boilermaker’s employer, Allmen Engineering Projects for a breach of sections 19(1) and 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 for failing to take steps to minimise risks associated with unloading and unpacking steel beams.

The Executive Director of SafeWork NSW said the Company should have foreseen the risks and that there were simple and straight forward measures that could have prevented the incident.

“In this instance, all that was required was the development of a safe work system for unloading steel beams, the use of ‘u frames’ when unloading the beams to prevent them from slipping and ensuring a qualified dogman was available to direct the crane operator.

“This decision sends a strong message about the need to have effective safe work systems in place to control work health and safety risks.”