General News
27 September, 2024
Sonac marks safety milestone
Sonac Maryborough has marked 1000 days without a lost time injury — celebrating the milestone this week by offering local emergency services a behind the scenes look at how the facility operates.
The company, which takes blood from abattoirs and processes it into useable by-products including animal feed, has invested some $20 million into its Maryborough facility in the last 1000 days — almost doubling its operational capacity and increasing staff numbers by over 30 percent.
This expansion has included the development of a new wastewater treatment plant, nearly doubling the facility’s output, a new sludge drying area, truck entry point with security gates and sealed roads inside the premises.
Sonac’s managing director Simon Cox said with the expansion, the facility’s risk profile has also changed.
“We’ve reached 1000 days without a lost time injury which is a significant milestone and we want to thank our staff and contractors for all their efforts in achieving that,” he said.
“It’s a long time to be injury free and our business has come a long way in that period of time, we’ve expanded and spent something like $20 million in that time span.
“If you like, our risk profile has changed quite a bit and as much as we implement all the safety mandates that are required, we thought our celebration would be an important time to bring emergency services through so they can see how we operate.”
Representatives from Ambulance Victoria, SES, CFA and the Environment Protection Authority were shown through the expanded facility on Tuesday.
“This was a way for us to say to the emergency services — we need you to help us maintain our safety record because we’re bigger, we have more movement and chemicals on site and if there was an accident, we need to ensure you know where things are and how to access parts of the facility,” Mr Cox said.
Lost time injuries are any form of injury that take staff away from work — something Mr Cox said the company takes very seriously.
“The last injury we had on-site was a sprained ankle, there was a trip hazard and we weren’t good enough to pick that up,” he said.
“We’ve since learned from that and we want our staff to be safe, have fun and go home at the end of the day without any injuries, it is a guiding principle of ours.”