Machine accident costs processor $60,000

Inadequate guarding on a machine has cost a major chicken processor $60,000, plus nearly $4000 in costs, following a court case involving serious injuries to an employee in July 2014.

Turi Foods Pty Ltd, which trades as La Ionica Poultry, pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching the 2004 OHS Act by failing to provide and maintain a plant that was safe and without risks to health.

The court heard that a worker was injured when her hand became trapped in a gizzard processor at the company’s facility in Thomastown, Melbourne. Her screams alerted a colleague, who shut down the processor — but not before the worker had sustained complicated fractures to her right arm, as well as skin and finger damage.

A WorkSafe investigation revealed that the processor was not adequately guarded — which allowed the worker to access the rotating parts — and that a sticker above the machine, which warned against entanglement, was damaged and not legible. The worker had also not been shown how to shut down the machine.

“Time and time again, WorkSafe inspectors are called to incidents in which workers have died or suffered serious injuries because guarding was either not up to appropriate safety standards, had been removed or was non-existent,” said Executive Director of Health and Safety Marnie Williams.

After the incident, the company reportedly installed a mesh guard that would prevent an operator from accessing the giblet rollers — and it cost less than $400.

Williams said employers who maintain or own machinery and equipment must ensure that all moving parts that can have contact with any part of the body have approved physical barriers or guards fitted and that all staff, especially inexperienced workers, need to be trained and carefully supervised in their safe use.

“In this case, an employee has suffered terrible injuries and a company has been convicted, fined and [had] its reputation tarnished, all for less than $400 in guarding,” she said.

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