Oakey Beef Exports faces safety probe over worker’s shooting

A Queensland abattoir is facing legal action after a worker accidentally shot himself with a gun meant to be unloaded.

Oakey Beef Exports is facing one charge of failure to comply with their health and safety duty (category two offence) after a serious workplace accident in 2022. Picture: File.

A workplace shooting at Darling Downs meat processor Oakey Beef Exports has led to legal action following a review of safety protocols.

Representatives for Oakey Beef Exports appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court this week charged with one count of a failure to comply with their health and safety duty (category two offence) following a serious shooting accident at the plant in January 2022.

On the afternoon of January 11, 2022 maintenance fitter Mark Bashford was cleaning captive bolt guns, firearms used to incapacitate cattle, as part of his daily duties when one was deployed, penetrating his abdomen.

CCTV footage shown to the court captured the incident where Mr Bashford activates the trigger, curling over before a colleague offers him a chair while another can be seen calling for help.

Mr Bashford testified he was taken into surgery and spent nine to 11 days in the care of doctors.

“I started the day like any other,” he told the court.

“I woke up the next morning and the first thing the doc said was I was lucky to be alive.”

He advised the court the round had penetrated five millimetres off his heart, ruptured his pancreas and caused parts of his liver to be removed.

“They cut me open from my belly button to the top of my chest,” he said.

The court heard procedure required the guns to be unloaded before they arrived at the workshop; however maintenance workers testified, on multiple occasions, loaded guns had appeared.

Several workers said, while in training, they were warned to never point the gun towards themselves and were advised it was potentially deadly.

Mr Bashford countered, while he may have been told to avoid pointing the gun at his person, he was certain he had never been warned of its serious threat to life.

“I know there definitely wasn’t any mention of bullets because (in training) no bullets came up in the gun,” he said.

“I would remember if someone said this will kill you.”

Crown prosecutor Bianca Mendelson on behalf of Workplace Health and Safety Queensland argued there were no clear control measures in place to instruct maintenance workers on how to safely clean the guns nor adequate supervision of kill floor workers to ensure guns were unloaded before delivery.

“It was reasonably practical for the defendant to have turned its mind to creating and implementing a safe operation procedure that was specific to the task of cleaning being carried out by these specific maintenance fitters,” she said.

Since the incident, the court heard Oakey Beef Exports had changed procedure so guns now came to the workshop disarmed in two pieces and workers now completed safety training directly with the gun manufacturer.

“The fact that the defendant now requires the kill floor workers to disassemble the captive bolt guns proves it was reasonably practical for this to have been done beforehand,” Ms Mendelson said.

Workers advised the court they were aware of a manufacturer’s operating manual for the gun but could not recall any other documents relating to the task.

Multiple workers, including Mr Bashford, testified they did not see or read the manual before the incident but conceded they had completed safety training which directed them to do so.

Defence barrister Mitch Rawlings argued the prosecution failed to prove whether supervision was adequate and relied on speculation not fact.

“There is no direct evidence regarding how the guns found themselves in the maintenance workshop,” he said.

“The fact that they arrived at their destination in the maintenance workshop in one piece, does not establish (they were not disarmed under supervision).”

He claimed the company had more than satisfied their safety requirements by directing workers to the manufacturer’s operating guidelines.

“All of the workers (bar Mr Bashford) who were trained by (a senior worker) indicated that it was the operating manual process … referred to in training … that was the document which formed the basis to workers on how to perform the task,” he said.

“There is no additional information that one would expect of a safe operating procedure that is on Oakey Beef Exports letterhead, aside from perhaps the letterhead.”

Magistrate Michelle Dooley reserved her decision for a later date.