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Ingham’s Cleveland chicken processing plant set to close
INGHAM’S chicken processing plant at Cleveland, Queensland is set to close down, affecting 160 employ- ees.
An Ingham’s Group spokeswoman said staff had been told recently that processing facili- ties would be reduced from four to three over eight months.
“Ingham’s is con- fident redeployment options for the vast majority of Cleveland employees will be available in our other operations in Queens- land and a range of resources will be pro- vided to support em- ployees through the transition,” she said.
“Once complete, vol- umes currently pro-
cessed at Cleveland will be absorbed into the other plants, increas- ing the productivity of those sites and enhanc- ing service for custom- ers.”
The Cleveland site is used to process fresh chickens, producing cooked and frozen products including nug- gets and tenders.
The spokeswoman said Ingham’s would continue to use the Cleveland premises but the group was yet to decide what for.
Ingham’s opened a logistics and laboratory facility at nearby Lytton in February.
The company em- ploys about 2000 peo- ple across Queensland, including 1300 at its
Murarrie processing facility.
The spokeswoman said Ingham’s would invest in capacity and capability at processing plants in South Austral- ia, Victoria and NSW during the transition.
“This initiative will lead to increased em- ployment across the three plants with in- creased volumes, es- pecially at Edinburgh Parks in South Austral- ia,” she said.
“Queensland remains an important national production hub, reflect- ed by Ingham’s recent investment in a distribu- tion centre, new labo- ratories and a second feed mill to support our primary processing and farmingoperations.”
The Ingham’s Cleveland processing plant.
Photo: theherald.com.au
Beresfield chicken factory ammonia leak: nine workers taken to hospital
BAIADA, the poultry giant that owns Steggles, will conduct an internal investigation after an ammonia leak at its Be- resfield, NSW chicken processing plant hospi- talised nine workers re- cently.
About 350 workers had to be evacuated and 11 were treated by paramed- ics after an elevated level of ammonia was detected within the Hawthorne St factory.
Nine of those workers had to be taken to hospi- tals for observation.
A Hunter New England Health spokesman said on Sunday that the workers were taken to John Hunter Hospital, The Mater Hos-
pital and Maitland Hospi- tal as a precaution and did not have to be admitted.
Bartter Enterprises, a subsidiary of Baiada, re- leased a statement, claim- ing the plant’s ammonia readings did not reach “levels of harm”.
“The ammonia leak oc- curred during installa- tion work by a specialist service provider of new refrigeration equipment outside the factory, with some ammonia making its way into the factory,” the statement said.
“Although the plant’s ammonia readings did not approach levels of harm, our first priority is always the health and safety of workers.
“When some employees said they felt ill, ambu- lances were immediately called and the incident reported.
“We also enacted our controlledevacuationpro- cedures.”
Fire and Rescue NSW Hazmat officers secured the scene and, after the company and authorities tested the ammonia levels, the plant resumed opera- tions.
“We have commenced an internal investigation and will also work co-op- eratively with SafeWork NSW and the Environ- ment Protection Author- ity,” Bartter Enterprises’ statement said.
It’s not the first time the
Beresfield plant has been investigated for a chemi- cal leak.
In October 2016, Baiada was fined $15,000 for a chlorine leak that hos- pitalised 42 workers in March of that year.
At the time, the NSW EPA said it issued the fine after an investigation found the incident “could have been avoided” after a similar incident occurred at the company’s Adelaide plant three years earlier.
In December 2016, an employee was taken to hospital after a small- scale ammonia leak at the Beresfield poultry factory, the EPA said.
Originally published at theherald.com.au
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National Poultry Newspaper, July 2018 – Page 3