A Company Fined $130K Over Workplace Death

A HORRIFIC workplace accident cost a Coast man his life, a wife her husband, his adult children their father, and now a local company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Edward "Ted” Gavey was killed at work at Maleny Dairies on February 4, 2016, - weeks before his 60th birthday - when the blade on an angle grinder he was using shattered and a shard pierced his chest and heart.

Recently, the company that runs Maleny Dairies, Ross Hopper.com Pty Ltd, was fined $135,000 for failing to comply with its health and safety duty.

The company's sole director, Ross Hopper, was also ordered to conduct a workplace audit.

Prosecutor V McKenzie said Mr Gavey and two other staff members had been trying to unbolt a fan from a motor, and when a number of methods failed to remove the bolts, Mr Gavey tried to cut them off with an angle grinder.

"At the time he was using an unguarded nine-inch grinder and it had attached to it an incompatible abrasive cutting disc,” she said.

Magistrate Annette Hennessy said the company should have had processes in place to regularly check power tools were safe.

"The inspection of plant is a very easy risk minimisation method and should have been in place from the start,” she said.

Since the incident, Barrister John Dwyer said the company had upgraded its machinery and implemented new safety measures to stop a tragedy happening again.

"Consultants were engaged and conducted a full audit of the site to identify where improvements needed to be made, and those improvements have been made,” he said.

Mr Gavey's grieving widow, Julie Strong, wept in the gallery during the court proceedings, supported by family members.

In the wake of his death friends described Mr Gavey as a "wonderful gentleman” with a "huge heart and an infectious smile”.

In an affidavit to the court Mr Hopper said he had learned "a very hard lesson” and was sincerely sorry for the families that had suffered as a result of the failings of his company.

"I feel extremely sad for Ted's family,” he said.

"If I could turn back time and change things I would in a heartbeat ... I think about what happened every day and obviously have major regrets as a business.”

The incident that killed Mr Gavey was the second serious accident at the Maleny workplace in just over four months, the only two incidents of the kind in the company's 16-year history, and Mr Hopper's 27 years running businesses.

In October 2015, Emma Parker, 20, was seriously injured when a vat filled with 170 litres of cream toppled over on her, breaking her pelvis and back.

She was unable to work for six-eight months, but has since returned to work at the dairy.

Workplace Health and Safety launched an investigation into safety practices and policies at the dairy in the wake of the accident, but had not made any recommendations at the time of Mr Gavey's death in February.

Ms Hennessy said it was not likely those findings, had they come earlier, would have prevented Mr Gavey's death.

"The first incident wouldn't have put up any flags that might have been addressed immediately to prevent Mr Gavey's incident,” she said.

Mr Dwyer said the two incidents within such a short time frame was not an indication that something was "terribly wrong” at the business, but more "bad luck” and that significant safety changes had been made since.

Ms Hennessy fined the company $50,000 and Mr Hopper $5000 over the incident that left Ms Parker injured.