25/03/2008

News Item

Fosters pleads guilty to workplace breaches

BREWER Fosters has pleaded guilty to two charges following the death of a worker almost two years ago, Victoria's workplace safety authority says.

A Wantirna man was crushed between a handrail and the door of a machine which took empty bottles from pallets before they were filled with beer at the company's Abbotsford plant on April 13, 2006, a spokesman for WorkSafe said today.

The company pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court today to two breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to the death.

The charges relate to the company's failure to provide or maintain the safety of its work systems and failure to provide information and instruction to its employees to ensure their safety.

Magistrate Barbara Cottrell set a plea hearing for July 24.

source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23432032-5005961,00.html