A decision in a case in which a man received second and third-degree burns when he slipped into a vat containing 82-degree water will be handed down in July.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
JBS Swift Australia Pty Ltd at Longford has previously pleaded guilty to failure to comply with health and safety duty Category 2 and duty to consult workers.
But the company has pleaded not guilty to the more serious charge of reckless conduct Category 1 which refers to a duty holder recklessly exposing a person to risk of death or serious injury.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Whether the company was reckless in providing a safe workplace for its employees is the key issue.
Defence lawyer Stephen Russell submitted to Magistrate Simon Brown that there was no evidence that the company was reckless in its implementation of a new system of handling tripe.
The court heard last year that in November 2016 a Longford abattoir employee was using a tripe cooker and associated plant to pre-wash, load and cook tripe.
The process required the employee to put pieces of tripe in a pre-wash basket that was raised to tip tripe into the cooker.
Pieces of tripe would become stuck in the pre-wash basket's holes after the process changed from using bleach to hot water, making it necessary for employees to climb on to the edge of the basket and push the tripe into the cooker manually.
The abattoir worker slipped while trying to push the tripe into the cooker and landed in the tub filled with 82-degree water.
He received second and third-degree burns to both legs from the knees down, including both his feet.
Prosecutor Simon Nicholson said the recklessness charge was made out because there was evidence from the injured worker and two others that the unblocking procedure had received tacit approval from managers.
He said nothing was done about the known problems with the tripe cooking process.
In a discussion about whether a company omission to force the worker to desist amounted to recklessness Mr Brown said: "The risk was so apparent that, to put it bluntly, Blind Freddy would have seen that it was a stupid thing for him to let people do."
But Mr Russell said that there was no evidence that the company formed a reckless intention in relation to the tripe cooking procedure.
He said the company had tried to fix the tripe sticking problem by making holes in the pre-wash bucket larger.
He said there was no evidence that a company representative had seen and ignored the injured worker's actions.
Mr Brown adjourned the case for decision in the Launceston Magistrates Court on July 23 at 2.15pm
The offences to which the company pleaded guilty carry a maximum total of fines valued at $1.6 million.
.