Two prosecutions of Queensland meat manufacturing companies are a reminder of the importance of ensuring young and inexperienced workers are properly supervised until they complete the required training and are signed-off as being able to safely operate plant.

In the first prosecution in WorkSafe Queensland v Gotzinger Smallgoods Pty Ltd (2024), the Court heard that workers employed by the defendant, Gotzinger Smallgoods, were required to operate a ‘de-linker’ machine to separate long chains of sausages into individual sausages. Once loaded into the de-linker, the sausages hook on to blades in a rotating barrel. The individually cut sausages then pass through an exit chute.

The instructions for using the de-linker stated that workers should not place body parts into the de-linker when it was operational. While there was a plastic safety cover over the exit chute, this cover could be opened while the de-linker was operational.

On the day before the incident, two workers were operating the de-linker. The more experienced of the two workers, who had been trained and signed-off to use the de-linker, demonstrated how to feed the sausages into the machine. During this demonstration, the experienced worker lifted the cover and reached inside the exit chute to clear a blockage.

The next day, the less experienced worker, who had not been trained or signed-off to use the de-linker, followed the instruction of the experienced worker and used the same technique to dislodge a sausage that had become caught in the machine. While doing so, the worker’s wrist became caught in the rotating blade. The worker was hospitalised with a severe wrist laceration that required surgery.

During sentencing, the Magistrate had regard to the defendant’s early guilty plea, clean record, considerable community involvement and the significant safety measures implemented in response to the incident. While the defendant had not completely disregarded the safety of its workers, the Magistrate considered that the risk was serious and foreseeable, and able to be mitigated by adopting simple safety measures. The defendant was fined $70,000.

The second case, WorkSafe Queensland v Australian Food Corporation (2024), involved a 16-year-old worker who had only a labouring background when he commenced working for Australian Food Corporation Pty Ltd, trading as Tyson Foods Australia, a business that also employed the worker’s mother. After 3 weeks on the job, he was tasked to work on the patty-making production line and told his job was to clean around the chute of the machine. He adopted a practice of cleaning the chute that was unsafe, but was not properly supervised or instructed on how to properly perform the task. As a result, he suffered a shearing of his forefinger to the first knuckle. The company pleaded guilty and was fined $75,000.