A South Australian abattoir has been fined $45 500 after a holiday worker suffered hand at the site.
The teenager was working at the Lobethal Abattoirs in Adelaide Hills during school holidays in January 2009 when the accident occurred.
Part of his job was to hand stretch sheep hides into an automatic clamp of a hide pulling machine, and in doing so, his gloved finger was caught in the machine.
He was able to pull his finger from the machine but he suffered a broken knuckle and a severe laceration to his left index finger, leaving him with permanent damage to the function of his finger, and damaging his lifestyle.
The injury disrupted his engineering studies and application to the Air Force and also cost him a sponsorship for mountain bike racing.
The abattoir has assisted the boy by paying some of the losses and he is anticipating beginning a mechanical apprenticeship next year.
SafeWork SA found the meat processing facility did not have adequate risk assessment for the manual feed into the clamp and no procedure was in place for the task.
It also pointed out the hazard of not having guards around the machine’s hazardous moving parts and training was not thorough enough, nor was it documented.
Magistrate Lieschke pointed out the incident was not the first of its kind the company has been guilty of, and was therefore liable of a fine of up to $600 000.
The judge chose not to set that amount, because the company submitted an early guilty plea and made reparations to the worker.
In the lead up to the Christmas holiday period, SafeWork SA said the incident highlight the importance of ensuring a safe work environment for holiday workers.