A 19-year old Camperdown stock handler is recovering, after suffering serious injuries in an incident at this week's WVLX prime cattle sale, Mortlake.
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Outcross director Tom Newsome, Armidale, NSW, said the woman was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital, after being injured at 9.35am on Monday, December 4.
He said the incident happened in a laneway as the worker - who has not been named - was moving cattle.
"A beast was being moved from the sale pen, to the weighbridge for weighing and there were cattle ahead of it, that were blocked off by a gate," Mr Newsome said.
"There were four cattle in the pen and when they got to the gate, they turned around and one of them came back
"The worker had a gate blocking the laneway, but it wasn't latched.
"There was a gap between the gate and laneway and the beast jumped through the gap and struck the worker as it went - the result is she has a broken pelvis and broken arm."
The worker had undergone an operation at Royal Melbourne Hospital, .
Earlier this year, WorkSafe announced that the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector recorded eight deaths in the sector last year, which is the equal second highest amount of workplace deaths in 2022.
In March, a worker at Yarrawonga died from injuries sustained while loading cattle at a Yarrawonga South property.
Mr Newsome said WorkSafe Victoria inspectors had been out to WVLX to investigate the incident.
Until the worker recovered, neither Outcross or WorkSafe could get a full statement as to actually what happened.
"We will be working with WorkSafe to review our processes and make sure that if they need to change, we have an understanding of that," he said.
"The accident was a result of a simple process of moving cattle up a lane and there is probably not a lot we can do with the process," he said.
Outcross would be making sure staff were fully trained and procedures were "as rigorous as they can be, as opposed to any major change in infrastructure."
He said WVLX had been largely incident free - "I can't think of any notifiable incidents, I'm not saying their hasn't been, but there have been very, very few."
A Worksafe spokesperson confirmed inspectors had attended and would determine whether further action was required.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
