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Brewing Giant Foster's Faces Fines, Conviction Over Safety Breach |
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
Melbourne - Global brewing giant Foster's faces fines of almost $A2 million ($US1.92 million) and a criminal conviction after admitting a safety breach that led to the death of a worker.
The Victorian County Court heard today machine operator Cuu Huynh, 58, died from injuries suffered as he performed maintenance on a beer bottling machine at the company's Abbotsford brewery in Melbourne in 2006.
Mr Huynh's head had become jammed between an automated door on a beer bottling machine and a railing at the brewery in a repeat of a similar incident in which another worker was injured several years earlier, the court heard.
Foster's had failed to improve safety of the machine as a result of the earlier accident.
The company's lawyers told the court it had an almost flawless safety record and had no previous convictions in its 120 year history.
At today's pre-sentence hearing, prosecutor Paul Holdenson, QC, struggled to maintain his composure as he read a series of emotional victim impact statements to the court.
In one of the statements, Mr Huynh's wife of 25 years, Thay, said she still felt fear when she saw people in uniforms like her husband's.
"When I see people in the same uniform I feel frightened because he went to work in that uniform and never came home," Mrs Huynh said.
"I find it so hard that my husband died when he was so young."
His eldest son Frankie personally read his statement, telling how he arrived at the hospital and saw his father with tubes coming out of his face and knowing he could do nothing.
"I have become a very angry person," Mr Huynh said.
"Angry at the company for taking him away from us.
"No matter what happens in this case I think I will be scarred for life."
His sentiments are shared by the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union state secretary Jess Walsh.
"Foster's must be held to account for this tragic and unnecessary loss of life," Ms Walsh said outside court.
"This sentence must send the strongest possible message to Foster's and other employers that workers' safety comes first."
Foster's Australia Limited pleaded guilty to failing to maintain a safe workplace and failing to adequately train staff.
Judge Jane Campton will sentence the company on August 5.
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