A worker at the D‘orsogna meat factory had the tips of his fingers cut off while trying to unjam a meat slicer. And it’s not the first time the factory owner has been in trouble.
D‘orsogna has pleaded guilty to unsafe work charges after a worker had the tips of two fingers cut off in an industrial meat slicer.
The accident happened at the Western Australian company’s processing facility on Melbourne’s northern edge shortly after it opened in 2019.
The worker was loading logs of meat into a ‘titan’ industrial meat slicer when one of the logs became jammed.
Believing that he was protected from the slicer’s blades by a metal curtain that activated when the machine was powered off, the worker reached his right hand into the machine to dislodge the jam.
Instead, he reached through a gap in the curtain and the blades sliced off the tips of his middle and index fingers.
The worker was taken to hospital, but the tips of his fingers were unable to be reattached.
The incident was investigated by WorkCover and charges of unsafe work environment were laid.
In its prosecution, WorkCover argued D‘orsogna had failed to ensure that the slicer had properly installed protective guards and the incident formed part of a pattern of behaviour for the company, citing a 2012 fine of $10,000 in Western Australia for a similar incident.
No conviction was recorded in the 2012 matter.
Source: Herald Sun
