Food giant JBS Australia Pty Ltd has a feedlot in Yanco, where the accident occurred. Photo: Leeton Living website.
Australia’s largest meat and food processing business has been fined $330,000 after an employee was struck by a reversing forklift at a Yanco feedlot and subsequently had his left leg amputated.
Government regulator SafeWork NSW launched court action against JBS Australia Pty Ltd after investigating the incident. The company pleaded guilty to the offence of failing to comply to its work health and safety duty. JBS was convicted and also ordered to pay the regulator’s court costs in a decision published on Wednesday (29 October).
On the afternoon of 14 July 2022, cold stores attendant William Gaynes walked into the chilled stack-down area through the doorway of a rapid roller door. As the 57-year-old walked through the doorway, a forklift operated by a licensed driver remained outside the range of the loop sensor, and outside the vision of the CCTV camera.
Mr Gaynes was looking and gesturing in the direction of his right-hand side as he walked through the door, in the opposite direction to the position of the forklift.
The driver was reversing the forklift and struck Mr Gaynes and ran over his left leg. He sustained tibia and fibula fractures and was transported by ambulance to Wagga Wagga Base Hospital, where he was admitted to the emergency department.
Surgeons conducted a left leg below-knee amputation operation. In the days after this, Mr Gaynes’ left leg developed stump necrosis, and an above knee amputation was performed on 18 July 2022.
On 27 July 2022, Mr Gaynes was transferred to Narrandera Hospital to continue his rehabilitation.
District Court Judge David Russell found faults in JBS Australia’s work health and safety processes contributed to the tragic accident.
There was a requirement for the rapid roller door to be kept in automatic mode. However, it was in manual mode at the time of the incident.
“If the rapid roller door was in automatic mode, the door would be activated (ie opened) by a forklift travelling over an electromagnetic sensor in the ground, known as an induction loop sensor,” Judge Russell stated in his published decision.
“As soon as any part of the forklift crossed onto the sensor, amber lights would flash and the rapid roller door would go up. The sensor could not be activated by a person walking over it. When the rapid roller door was in automatic mode, it therefore served as a control measure for traffic management to limit the ability for pedestrians to move between the chilled stack-down area and load out area using the rapid roller door, rather than the personnel access door.”
Judge Russell made several findings that suggested JBS was culpable for what occurred.
“There was a significant likelihood of the risk occurring, once the JBS safety system was ignored,” he wrote.
“The potential consequences of the risk were death or serious injury. There were steps available to eliminate or minimise the risk. Those steps were taken immediately after the incident.”
He also noted the significant impact the accident had on the victim, who had been a “hardworking” employee for 38 years.
“Mr Gaynes is concerned about his personal safety because of his physical vulnerability. He becomes upset more easily since the incident and reported reduced patience and tolerance with others. He also has depressing and sad thoughts about his disability,” Judge Russell wrote.
“He is concerned that he may have difficulties securing employment in the future if he stopped working with JBS, where he has returned to work for 20 hours per week printing labels for meat products.”
The maximum penalty for such an offence is a fine of $1,860,843.
The judge ruled JBS’s culpability was in the “mid-range” level. The company received a 25 per cent discount for its early guilty plea.
He stated that JBS was otherwise of good character, showed remorse, cooperated with SafeWork NSW and took several steps after the incident to prevent something similar from happening again.
well done big fella! View