Nippy’s Waikerie Producers Pty Ltd fined after teenage worker seriously injured

A worker at a well-loved SA brand’s production facility had her scalp torn from her head by a piece of machinery – with the accident ruled entirely preventable.

An iconic South Australian brand has been fined more than $100,000 after a young worker had part of her scalp ripped out by machinery.

Nippy’s Waikerie Producers Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws over the “appalling” injuries suffered by the then teenage worker.

In a judgment published online SA Employment Tribunal deputy president Magistrate Katherine Eaton said the risk to the worker’s safety was not only foreseeable, but had been foreseen seven years earlier.

On November 12, 2020, the then 18-year-old employee was working in the orange packing shed at the Waikerie facility.

She had been working at the facility since April that year as part of a gap year between high school and university.

The worker entered an area of a machine which washes, grades and sorts oranges by moving them along a lengthy conveyor belt and series of rollers.

She went into the area to clean a blockage and retrieve fruit which had fallen from the conveyor belt.

She and other workers had done the job before without incident and the machine was not turned off at the time.

Nippy's has been fined $100,000 after a young worker had part of her scalp ripped out by machinery. Picture: File

Two moving chains were operating in the same area of the worker – one at ankle height, which had a safety guard over it, and the other at head height.

“Shortly after lunch, her hair was caught in unguarded machinery and her entire scalp was ripped from her head,” Ms Eaton said.

“Despite the best efforts of the first responders and medical teams at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, attempts to reattach her scalp were only partially successful.”

Ms Eaton wrote in her judgment that a safety review of the machinery in 2013 raised concerns of “extreme” injury if hands or hair were caught in the moving chains.

Despite the concerns nothing was done to address the concerns.

Nippy's processing plant in Waikerie, SA.

“That workers were required as part of their duties to enter that area while the elevator conveyor was operating is inexplicable,” Ms Eaton said.

As a result of the failure, a culture emerged of entering the machinery and just trying to avoid the whirring chain.

Following the accident Nippy’s spent more than $60,000 to upgrade the safety procedures around the machinery.

Two directors of Nippy’s read apologies to the Tribunal and Ms Eaton heard that around $60,000 in reparations would be paid to the worker.

Ms Eaton said more had to be done to protect young workers.

“It should go without saying that employers need to take special care to train their young employees about the particular risks that they must look out for in their workplace,” she said.

“Unfortunately, this Court is repeatedly tasked with sentencing employers for breaches of their health and safety obligations that have resulted in young workers being seriously injured or killed.”

The company was convicted and fined $120,000 in addition to other courts fees.