Irish backpacker is scalped and loses an EAR after getting her hair caught while cleaning fruit-packing machine
The horrific accident occurred when Annie Dunne was asked to clean the machine while it was still operating
AN Irish backpacker was SCALPED and had one of her ears ripped off after getting her hair caught as she cleaned a fruit-packing machine.
Annie Dunne suffered the horrific injury when her locks got tangled in a rotating section of the machine as it was still running in Victoria, Australia.
Annie Dunne was scalped and lost an ear when her hair became tangled in a conveyor belt
T&R Contracting Shepparton pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety and was fined $60,000 Australian dollars (£37,000). It was also ordered to pay another $8,000 (£5,000) in court costs.
WorkSafe’s health and safety executive director Marnie Williams said the circumstances of the incident were appalling.
The court heard workers were required to clean the conveyors while they were energised and moving.
Annie was assessing the underside of a conveyor in order to scrub its surfaces when her hair became entangled in a rotating drive shaft and her scalp was torn from her head, WorkSafe says.
She also had one of her ears torn off.
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Ms Williams says in a statement: "This truly was a shocking incident that has changed this young woman’s life in a split second.
"It's staggering that workers were expected to clean machines which were still in operation."
She said the labour hire business engaged workers for the packing shed and left them exposed to risk of "serious injury and death".
Ms Williams said there was a "blatant risk" of serious injury from entanglement, crushing or entrapment with both conveyors in the shed.
Kalafatis Packing Pty Ltd and Dimitrios Vagelatos, the manager of the packing shed, are both facing charges over the incident.
News of the company's fine comes just days after a British backpacker was killed in a light aircraft crash in Queensland.
And a murder probe is underway in Melbourne after a British lapdancer was found dead in a strip club after what appeared to be a private party with men at the venue.
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