Frozen food maker McCain was fined $145,000 last month over health and safety breaches at its Ballarat plant.

The fine was issued last Friday in Ballarat County Court after an inci dent in which a maintenance worker’s thumb was sliced off while he at tempted to repair a stalled industrial potato peeler and cleaner.

The worker believed the machine to be isolated through its control switches when it was actually on a manual setting. The machine had started up while the fitter’s hand was in it, amputating his left thumb.

McCain has since complied with two improvement notices that were issued by WorkSafe Victoria, and it has also developed an “isolation lock out” procedure for the machine.

The company has a long record of workplace and safety failings, and was prosecuted over OHS problems in 1983, 1986, 1991, 2002 and 2003, according to WorkSafe Victoria. Just last year it was convicted after a work er’s hand was caught in a pizza shredder at the Ballarat plant.

“Being a leader in the community is about accepting responsibility and showing leadership in safety. We expect large organisations with considerable resources to do the right thing,” WorkSafe Victoria’s acting director, Stan Krpan, said.

“Locking out and de-energising machinery is a basic requirement for any maintenance job. Sometimes protecting your workers is as easy as having a few systematic safety steps in place to make sure this happens.”