Girl, 18, has her scalp ripped off by machine as she worked in factory

A teenager feared she was about to die when her long hair became caught in a fruit sorting machine and ripped away the top part of her head.

Alexandra Trandafil, then aged 18, had been working in the orange packing shed at Nippy's Waikerie packing and processing plant in South Australia in November 2020. During the shift she entered an area which sorted and washed the fruit along a large conveyor belt.

When she was asked to clean a blockage and retrieve oranges which had fallen from the belt her hair became caught, ripping away the entirety of the top of her head.

The then 18-year-old's hair became caught in a conveyor belt (Facebook)

Miss Trandafil was rushed to hospital after the accident in November 2020. Paramedics were able to find her scalp and surgeons attempted to reattach it during surgery.

However, it proved unsuccessful and, nearly three years on, the teenager has permanent hair loss and extensive scarring. A tribunal was told Alexandra had believed she was going to die as her shocked colleagues called emergency services.

The role at the packing plant had been her first fill time position as she looked to save money for a trip abroad.

Katherine Eaton, deputy president of the SA Employment Tribunal said in her findings, according to news.com.au: “She thought she was going to die. In an instant, her young and hopeful life flipped into shock, trauma, ongoing pain and disfigurement.

“She endured not only the pain and shock of her physical injury, but the terror of looking up and seeing her hair and scalp hanging from the machine in front of her.”

In the wake of the accident, the factory manager called the teenager’s family to apologise and offered them $60,000 (£31,000). The tribunal was told the firm had been warned about the dangers of similar equipment around seven years before the accident.

It found the teenager had not received any training about the risks of the work at the conveyer belt and there were no warning signs. Nippy's Waikerie Producers Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge of failing its health and safety duty and was fined $120,000 (£62,000), as well as legal costs.