A company has been fined $120,000 after a traffic controller was injured during roadworks (not pictured). Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A young traffic controller was working on the Hume Highway when she was accidentally sprayed with hot bitumen, leaving her with life-changing burn injuries.
Her former employer, Capital Lines & Signs Pty Ltd, has now been fined $120,000 over the incident, according to a recently published decision from the NSW Industrial Court.
Justice Jane Paingakulam said the 20-year-old woman was part of a crew installing replacement retro-reflective raised pavement markers (RRPMs) on the Hume Highway near Marulan on 3 February 2023.
She and a male worker were clearing bitumen blockers from a melter while not wearing enough personal protective equipment (PPE) when the man accidentally turned on an applicator gun, resulting in hot bitumen being sprayed from a pipe and hitting the woman on her head and forearms.
The woman was taken to a hospital’s burns unit with burns to her forehead, eyelids, nose, hands and right forearm for which she underwent skin graft surgeries. She has been left with permanent scars.
“The significant burn injuries sustained by [the woman] have had a profound impact on every aspect of her life, both personally and in her relationships with her family and friends,” Justice Paingakulam said.
“Her requirement for significant medical treatment, including surgeries, continues more than three years after the incident.”
The judge said what made this incident “so egregious” was how the woman was only supposed to be working in traffic management.
“She should never have been permitted to become involved in work on the plant,” she said.
“There was accordingly a total failure of supervision, both because [the woman] was permitted to undertake work on the plant, but also because workers were permitted to undertake work without wearing PPE properly.”
Capital Lines manufactured metal road signs and installed road signs, pavement markings and RRPMs, which are a road safety device that reflect light from a driver’s headlights.
Justice Paingakulam said the company pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to comply with a health and safety duty, which meant it accepted it could have taken several steps to at least minimise the risk of workers being hit by hot bitumen.
She said at the time of the incident, a trigger lock on the applicator gun that was intended to prevent accidental activation could be moved from ‘locked’ to ‘unlocked’ with minimal force. There was also nothing to stop this from occurring unintentionally.
Capital Lines made PPE available to workers, including long sleeved shirts, long pants, safety boots, safety glasses and gloves, but the requirement to wear this equipment was not always enforced.
The road worker and the man had been using a melter to heat up bitumen. But at the time of the incident, the melter’s heat guard had been removed, which was known by their supervisor.
Justice Paingakulam said Capital Lines did not provide adequate information, training or instruction to workers for operating the melter.
“In particular, Capital Lines did not provide adequate information, training and instruction to [the two road workers using the melter at the time] concerning the PPE required to be worn when undertaking work on the melter,” she said.
“The supervision of the work at the site was inadequate … At the time of the incident, [the supervisor] was on his mobile phone and not paying attention to the work being performed on the melter.”
Capital Lines’ director, Andrew Stewart, said he regretted the incident and fully acknowledged the harm caused to the road worker. He said she did not return to work after the incident.
Mr Stewart also said he had sold his business. Its employees now work for a different company.
In addition to the fine, Justice Paingakulam ordered Capital Lines to pay the prosecutor’s legal costs for the proceedings.
What a fantastic acheivement, especially these days! Bob and his crew need special congratulations!… View