STEGGLES has been convicted of breaching its duty of care and fined $160,000 after a worker at its Hunter poultry processing plant had his right hand completely severed in a machine in 2020.
The process worker was undertaking general duties around an overheard conveyor line at the Beresfield factory on October 6, 2020 when he noticed a chicken carcass hanging one-legged.
The worker reached above his head to reattach the chicken's leg to the conveyor line when his finger became caught, dragging him into the spinning blade of the hock cutter and completely severing his right hand.
There was no witnesses to the accident and at the time the man was working in the "evisceration room" alone.
He was taken to John Hunter Hospital where it was discovered he was suffering sepsis and he has not returned to work, according to a judgment on Friday.
SafeWork NSW launched an investigation and in November last year Steggles pleaded guilty in NSW District Court to breaching its duty of care under the Work Health and Safety Act and exposing the worker to the risk of death or serious injury, which carries a maximum penalty of a fine of $1.7 million.
The issue for Steggles was that despite the fact the worker was injured carrying out an act he had been told not to do, there was no physical barrier or guard in place preventing someone from touching the conveyor line while it was in operation.
Steggles accepted "unequivocally" that it had breached its obligations and apologised to the man and his family for its "failing" and the harm caused.
"As a business, the realisation that we should have done more to ensure the safety of workers has been difficult," the company said in an affidavit. "We have close working relationships with our workers and, in many cases, we know their extended families. [The worker] is a highly valued member of our team and we are deeply concerned to do all we can to ensure his recovery and continued work with us."
Steggles has supported the injured worker since the incident, including fundraising, visiting him in hospital, arranging medical appointments and offering him a long-term position in a modified role.
When assessing the risk the machinery posed and Steggles' level of culpability, Judge David Russell, SC, said on Friday that the company could have acted earlier to eliminate the danger.
"There were steps available to Steggles to eliminate the risk, by the engineering solution of gating off the hock cutter area," Judge Russell said. "Such a measure was installed on a temporary basis on the day of the incident and on a permanent basis within days of the incident."
However, he said the risk was not an obvious one and there was no record of any similar incident occurring within the wider poultry processing industry.
He said while the injured worker had obviously been exposed to the risk of being injured by the machinery, there was no evidence that any other worker was so exposed.
He found the harm done to the injured worker was "most serious" and said "he has never worked again".
But Judge Russell found Steggles did not have a significant record of previous convictions, was of good character, highlighted by the steps it took after the incident, and was unlikely to re-offend.
He fined Steggles $200,000, discounted by 20 per cent for the plea of guilty.
