One of CND’s first-year apprentice’s clothing ignited while he was fabricating a footing cage with a welder on October 31, 2023.
The apprentice, who was 17 at the time, had been working at the Kyabram metal fabricators for 10 weeks when his work-branded hoodie caught on fire from a spark from the welder.
The fire consumed most of the clothing he was wearing on his torso and the upper parts of his trousers.
After unsuccessfully trying to extinguish himself by rolling on grass outside, he ran back inside where some of his co-workers hosed him with water before he was airlifted to hospital in Melbourne.
The court heard no-one was directly supervising him at the time of the incident.
He wasn’t wearing appropriate protective clothing and spent one month in hospital, undergoing several operations.
These included skin grafts to his stomach, chest, upper arms, neck, back, buttocks and hips.
The court heard he continued to suffer both emotionally and physically from widespread scarring, including mobility issues and tightness in his chest.
Magistrate Amina Bhai acknowledged CND had taken significant safety measures since the incident, but noted there had been a specific warning a month before when the same apprentice burned a pocket off his hoodie.
CND was fined $30,000 and ordered to pay costs of $4365.
No conviction was recorded for the company.
Ms Bhai said the sentence she imposed on the company was risk-based, not outcome-based, but the victim’s injuries highlighted the risk.
She said she took into account the company’s lack of prior convictions, early plea of guilty and “modest financial position”.
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