> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.whsbrief.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Minute or Two After It Stopped: The Refuelling Step Behind Two Burns Cases - URL: https://www.whsbrief.com/a-minute-or-two-after-it-stopped-the-refuelling-step-behind-two-burns-cases/ - Published: 2026-10-25T22:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-25T22:29:59.000Z - Description: A $210,000 fine near Forbes and new charges at Ferryden Park both turn on the same unwritten step: how long petrol plant sits before anyone refuels it. - Author: WHS Brief - Tags: blog On 11 December 2023, on a property near Forbes, a 20-year-old casual farmhand switched off a petrol generator and refuelled it from a jerry can a minute or two later. Fuel vapour ignited and burned about 5.5% of her body. On 19 October 2026 Lawson Grains Pty Ltd was fined $210,000 plus costs in the NSW Industrial Court after pleading guilty to a Category 2 offence. Justice Babb set a $280,000 starting point and allowed 25% for the plea. The facts behind the number are simple. There was no documented risk assessment for the generator. There was no procedure requiring a cool-down before refuelling. The training was inadequate. In the same week SafeWork SA charged Active Concrete Constructions Pty Ltd with a Category 2 offence over an incident on 11 October 2024 at a Ferryden Park construction site. Two workers suffered significant burns while refuelling a petrol-powered high-pressure washer. SafeWork SA alleges the company failed to give adequate information, training and instruction on safe refuelling. Two states, two pieces of small plant, the same few minutes of the job. ### Why Refuelling Hides in Plain Sight Nobody thinks of a generator or a pressure washer as high risk plant. It sits on the back of a ute. Everyone has used one. That familiarity is exactly the problem. We write detailed procedures for the crane and the excavator but the small petrol engine gets treated as common sense. Common sense is not a control. A hot exhaust, a muffler that stays hot for several minutes and an open jerry can are a fire triangle waiting for its third side. Ask yourself about the small petrol plant on your sites: - Is there a written refuelling procedure for each item or is it left to whoever is holding the jerry can? - Does that procedure name a specific cool-down period in minutes rather than saying "allow to cool"? - Does it say where refuelling happens, away from ignition sources and other work? - Are approved fuel containers with proper spouts actually on site? Or are people pouring from whatever is handy? ### A Third Burn in the Same Brief This week's brief also carried charges against Super Coat Waterproofing Pty Ltd in Victoria. In November 2025 a gas torch was being used to dry brickwork at an Armadale residential site before a highly flammable adhesive coating was applied. A fire broke out and two workers suffered significant burns. WorkSafe alleges the company did not tell workers the adhesive was a class 3 dangerous good and did not instruct them to keep open flames away. Different fuel, same gap. In each case the people doing the work were not told what the hazard was or what to do about it. The fuel was flammable on the label. The knowledge never reached the hands doing the job. ### What a Real Refuelling Control Looks Like A control you can verify has a few features. It is specific enough that two workers would do it the same way. It is trained, not just filed. It is checked by someone who would notice if it stopped happening. For small petrol plant that means: - A stated cool-down time before any refuelling, written on the equipment as well as in the procedure - A designated refuelling spot clear of hot surfaces, sparks and other trades - Approved containers with spill-control spouts kept with the plant - Training that is recorded for every user, including casuals and seasonal workers - A supervisor who has watched the procedure being done at least once The court weighed general deterrence heavily for the farming industry in Lawson Grains. That is a signal to every farm, contractor and hire business with a generator on a trailer. The regulator does not see this as a freak accident. It sees a foreseeable hazard with cheap controls. ### One Thing to Do This Week Walk your yard or site and list every piece of petrol-powered plant. For each one, ask the last person who refuelled it how long they waited after switching it off. If the answers vary, you have found the gap that Forbes and Ferryden Park found the hard way. If a new casual started on your site tomorrow, who would tell them how long to wait before they unscrew the fuel cap?