The Australian arm of the world's largest meat processor JBS has been convicted and fined after rejecting responsibility for a worker becoming trapped under hay bales weighing more than a tonne.
The administrative staffer has not been able to return to work from spinal fractures sustained after being struck by two hay bales, each weighing about 700kg, which fell from a partially constructed stack at a JBS Australia feedlot in the NSW New England region in February 2020.
NSW District Court Judge Andrew Scotting said JBS failed to take reasonably practicable steps and exposed the worker to a risk of death or serious injury when he found the company guilty in September.
"It was a well-known risk at the feedlot that partially constructed stacks were unstable and that bales could, and did, fall," he said, imposing a $300,000 fine in a decision published on Wednesday.
The judge said the company had a "blind spot" that developed over a lengthy period, but had failed to be proactive in trying to minimise risk.
A "buddy system" of oral instruction and demonstration was used to pass on the general practice for moisture testing hay bales before they were stacked, but there was no written safe work procedure at the time the worker was trapped.
The administrative staffer did not attend a briefing about seven months earlier, held after a farm worker in Queensland died from a falling bale.
The judge found JBS' training was deficient, however said the company introduced new training manuals and courses within a month of the incident, before hiring an accredited occupational health and safety management systems auditor to head up its risk division.
He said the company expressed remorse for the worker's injuries but stopped short of accepting responsibility, inferring that was to preserve its position on appeal.
The worker took issue with the amount of support the company claimed it offered, telling the court some support was provided out of legal obligation while other support came from colleagues in a private capacity.
JBS Australia pleaded guilty in July 2020 and was fined $300,000 after a contractor died from burns sustained at the same Caroona feedlot in February 2017.
The company is the local arm of Brazilian multinational JBS SA, which acquired Australian Meat Holdings as part of its acquisition of an American company in 2007.
Other locally known brands include Primo Smallgoods, Hans and Huon Aquaculture.
