Laverton workplace decapitation: Poultry giant loses legal challenge

By ADRIAN LOWE / The Age May 30, 2013 One of Australia's largest chicken producers has failed in a bid to have a court overturn a ruling that two of its employees be forced to speak to Victoria's workplace safety watchdog over the decapitation of a worker at a Laverton processing plant three years ago. Contractor Sarel Singh died in August 2010 when he was cleaning a machine known as a chain line. As the machine moved past, his jacket snagged and was dragged into the processor – a machine capable of dispatching 183 chickens per minute. He was killed instantly. The employees have made the application on an individual basis but their attempt is tied up in the company's bid to have charges against it dismissed over the death. Last year, WorkSafe Victoria charged the company that operates the plant – Baiada Poultry, owners of major labels Lilydale and Steggles – with four offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. WorkSafe alleges that Baiada failed to provide a working environment that was safe and did not pose risks to health, as well as failing to provide or maintain safe plants or systems of work and providing information necessary for employees to work safely. The case has been scheduled for a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court in September, but Baiada has lodged an application to have the charges dismissed.