This is a subscriber-only article
On 7 November 2015, Annie Dunne, daughter of Pat Dunne of Pat Dunne Agri Contractors in Co Tipperary, was working in a fruit-packing facility in Shepparton, Australia when her hair became caught in a conveyor belt.
The young woman was assessing the underside of a conveyor belt in order to clean it when her hair became entangled in a rotating drive shaft and her scalp was torn from her head. One of her ears was also torn off in the incident.
On Thursday this week, the labour hire company for the facility was fined $60,000 (€42,280) by a magistrate's court in Shepparton as a result of the incident.
This truly was a shocking incident that has changed this young woman’s life in a split second
T&R Contracting of Shepparton, Victoria, pleaded guilty of failing to provide a safe working environment by not providing instruction and training, and was also ordered to pay court costs of $8,091 (€5,701).
Appalling incident
Marnie Williams, executive director of health and safety with government body WorkSafe, says the circumstances of the incident were appalling.
“This truly was a shocking incident that has changed this young woman’s life in a split second,” Ms Williams said in a statement.
“It’s staggering that workers were expected to clean machines which were still in operation. All workers at this business were exposed to serious risks to their health and safety because a safe system of work was not in place.”
Kalafatis Packing Pty Ltd and Dimitrios Vagelatos, the manager of the packing plant, are also each facing charges over the incident and are due to appear in court at a later date.
Tractor run
Last December, some 260 tractors turned out in Nenagh to raise funds for the victim and her family. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at the time, Damien Dunne, Annie's brother, said the run went "very well", with traffic stewards and guards coming out to help direct it. "They were absolutely soaked," he said. "But they were there helping us out all the same."
A campaign set up by the family to help fund the cost of travelling and medical expenses incurred as a result of the accident has raised over $35,000 (€24,964) so far.
Before the accident, Annie Dunne was travelling around Australia and in November 2015 she began working at the fruit-packing facility to fulfil the number of days of regional work required to extend her working holiday visa for a second year.
SHARING OPTIONS: