Vic: Employer fined for injury to work experience student

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2003
Vic: Employer fined for injury to work experience student

MELBOURNE, Dec 5 AAP - A Victorian employer was today fined $15,000 after a work experience
student broke his leg while holding a metal drum being cut with a power saw.

Graeme Arkoll of Monark Metal Recyclers, Melton, today pleaded guilty in the Sunshine
Magistrates Court for failing to ensure the student was not exposed to risk.

The 15-year-old boy from Melton was doing work experience at Monark on July 12 last
year when a customer asked for a half-drum.

The court heard Mr Arkoll asked his 14-year-old son to get a drum from the yard and
cut it in two while the work experience student held it steady.

The drum carried a "flammable liquid" label and exploded almost as soon as the power
saw touched it.

The injured student had four operations as a result of the explosion, with his leg
fixed with a frame, rods and screws for five months.

A sliver of metal also became stuck in his eyelid and his eyelashes were burnt off.

The other boy was not injured.

WorkSafe Victoria director John Merritt said young people were among the most vulnerable
in the workplace.

"This was a serious and preventable accident that could have potentially proved fatal
for the two young people involved," he said.

AAP svm/dk/jnb/br

KEYWORD: EXPERIENCE

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