Thomas Foods International vows strong return after devastating fire at abattoir outside Murray Bridge
THOMAS Foods International has vowed to come back bigger and better in Murray Bridge, in the wake of a devastating fire that ripped through one of the nation’s largest abattoirs.
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THOMAS Foods International has vowed to come back bigger and better in Murray Bridge, in the wake of a devastating fire that ripped through one of the nation’s largest abattoirs.
The owners of Australia’s largest family-owned meat processing plant are thankful for the quick response by emergency services for stopping what could have been a “catastrophic” situation.
The company has promised “not to walk away” from their 1400 employees and would redeploy some to its other TFI processing plants at Lobethal, in the Adelaide Hills, and Tamworth, in NSW.
“Moving forward there is going to be disruption to the Murray Bridge facility but it’s too early to say how long that is going to be,” TFI chief executive Darren Thomas said.
“We have two other plants and will look to redeploy and employ people, but the reality is for some people that may not work, so we will have procedures in place to manage them.
“Being a family business, they are a part of the family.
“We’re not going to be walking away from them.”
A fire gutted the Murray Bridge processing plant on Wednesday night, which authorities have confirmed was started accidentally by a worker who was welding an offal bin.
The company’s flagship plant slaughtered 70 per cent of its livestock for export and has the capability to process 120,000 lambs and sheep, and 5000 cattle per week.
It has an annual revenue of more than $1 billion.
Mr Thomas said there were redundancies at its other two sites, which slaughtered small stock such as sheep and lambs, to fill some of the void left by the Murray Bridge plant.
He said the Lobethal plant, which already employed 400 people, had pre-approval to increase capabilities up to 30,000-40,000 animals.
Cattle would be processed at other sites yet to be determined, he said.
Mr Thomas conceded “it won’t be easy” to fill export demand, but their customers — some of the largest retail chains in the world — were aware of the situation.
“We’ll be back bigger, better and stronger, we’re committed to this industry,” he said.
“I’ve seen 20 years of my life almost evaporate before my eyes, but I’m committed more than ever to return Murray Bridge back to the jewel in the crown that it was in South Australia.
“The main message is to thank people for their support and allay any fears.
“We obviously have to work through a very difficult situation.”
Mr Thomas, who returned from a family holiday on the south coast following the news, said the Thomas family were coping well.
“It’s not the call you want on a third day of New Year, but we’re a strong family and we’ve been through unfortunate times in our lives with the loss of my sister,” he said.
“The most important thing when I got the call was that there was no injuries, the business takes a second stage to that.
“My main focus over the ensuing months is to ensure employees are employed in whatever format that might be.”
The major blow to the company comes only two months after TFI resumed exports to China after its government imposed a red meat ban.
It was unclear how the ban had affected the company, financially.
Wednesday’s fire was understood to have ripped through part of a $30 million to upgrade the to the plant in 2015 — one of the largest expenditures by the company in its 30 year history.
Metropolitan Fire Service spokesman Phil Kilsby said the threat from the blaze to factory workers — who fill two eight-hour shifts — had been “extremely serious”.
“Had the on-site workers not performed their evacuation procedure in the time they did, it could’ve been catastrophic,” Mr Kilsby said.
“It’s a bit early for us to estimate (the damage costs) as the fire investigation team is still on scene and they’ll make a determination in due time.”
The State Government established a task force to ensure a co-ordinated and rapid response to the challenges arising out of the fire at the Murray Bridge meat works.
The task force will work with TFI to support the affected workers and manage the broader community, economic and environmental impacts across South Australia.
A 24-hour phone hotline for employees and the broader community to contact the Government with any questions or concerns can be accessed from 8am on Friday, call: 1800 302 787.