24th August -2022 - Worksafe Victoria have announced that
Viva Energy Refining Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Geelong Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company was fined $100,000 for failing to provide and maintain a safe system of work requiring employees to wear appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) when working with equipment containing hydrofluoric acid.
The company was also fined $10,000 for failing to notify WorkSafe after an employee was exposed to immediate risk when acid leaked from a sampling cabinet.
The court heard that workers in the company's MOGAS Unit used a sampling cabinet to test the hydrofluoric acid, which is used in the manufacture of a component of avgas and petrol.
A WorkSafe investigation found it was reasonably practicable for Viva Energy Refining to require workers to wear a higher class of PPE when working on equipment that contained, or may have contained acid, and fully enclosed PPE with an independent oxygen supply if acid was flowing through lines connected to the sampling cabinet.
Investigators found that the company's operating procedure had previously required a higher level of PPE for these tasks, but PPE requirements had been reduced by September 2017.