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Company fined $2.1m over apprentice's head injury

By AAP Newswire

Nov 10, 2023

A file photo of the Victorian County Court — Dennis Jones Engineering and sole director Dennis Jones were sentenced in the Victorian County Court -AAP Image

A Victorian manufacturer has been fined $2.1 million after an apprentice was seriously injured when he was struck in the head by a steel pipe.

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Dennis Jones Engineering and its sole director Dennis Jones were sentenced in the Victorian County Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges against the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Jones admitted he directed a 20-year-old apprentice to use a plastic sleeve to thread a steel pipe on a lathe machine in October 2021.

The pipe bent and whipped, striking the man in the head.

He was placed in an induced coma, airlifted to hospital from the Gippsland business and underwent surgery for serious head injuries.

A WorkSafe investigation found Jones should have been aware of the risk and ensured covers were fixed to the lathe.

Jones and his company pleaded guilty to recklessly engaging in conduct that placed a person in danger of serious injury and failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work.

The company was convicted and fined a record $2.1 million while Jones was separately fined $140,000 and ordered to complete a five-year community corrections order with 600 hours of unpaid community work.

AAP has approached Dennis Jones Engineering for comment.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press