$60,000 penalty for baker

A TASMANIAN baker has been fined $60,000 for failing to provide a safe workplace.

Cripps NuBake had pleaded guilty to the charge in the Hobart Magistrates Court.

Magistrate Chris Webster yesterday said a worker lost 5mm-9mm of his right middle finger after it became stuck in a crumpet machine at the company’s Glenorchy plant on May 27, 2015.

Mr Webster said the wrapping machine had jammed and caused a build-up of crumpets.

The worker was directed to clear the build-up.

“The conveyor was stopped but part of the machine continued to move so that the worker in clearing the crumpets caught his right middle finger between the moving part of the machine and the plate that connected the hotplates to the conveyor,” he said.

Mr Webster said Cripps failed to guard an exposed pinch point in the machine and failed to ensure a company policy of turning off and locking machines before blockages were cleared was followed.

He also said Cripps had failed to give the worker adequate information and training.

Mr Webster said changes to the machine, done in 2006, should have been brought to the attention of safety auditors.

He said after the May 2015 incident, Cripps had spent $260,000 on full guarding and a safety audit.

Mr Webster said Cripps, which has been operating since 1878, had one prior conviction under similar legislation in 2008 for failing to provide a guard, but otherwise had a “very good” safety record.

He fined Cripps $60,000 plus court costs of $65.10.