Meatworks fined over incident that saw worker fall into near-boiling water

Meatworks fined over incident that saw worker fall into near-boiling water

JBS Australia, the country’s largest meat processing company, has been fined $150,000 over an incident in November of 2016. Four years since the incident, the young worker at the centre of the case saw his former employer convicted of multiple workplace health and safety breaches and fined.

The charges of failing to comply with health and safety duties, and breaching a duty to consult workers saw JBS face a maximum penalty of $1.6 million.

In November of 2016, John Kiriona-Hodge, who was 19 at the time, was working at the Longford abattoir in Tasmania. He was tasked with washing out tripe in a vat of water before being transferred to a cooking element. The tripe became stuck, and as this was common, JBS had provided workers with a step and a metal pole to reach into the basket to remove any stuck material.

Mr Kiriona-Hodge had stepped onto the side of the washtub and attempted to remove the stuck tripe when he fell into the water, at that time, heated to 80 degrees. He suffered second and third-degree burns from the waist down.

Magistrate Simon Brown said in sentencing that the action taken by Mr Kiriona-Hodge was an “obvious one” and relatively common practice. Still, he remarked that it was “inadequate” as a solution.

“The issue of sticking tripe was well known to the defendant,” Mr Brown said.

“The issue had not been properly addressed … the problem was simply left to linger.

JBS Australia was convicted and fined $150,000, but have not yet made a comment about the proceedings.

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