Pacific / Fiji

Fiji worker burned in sugar mill accident.

15:00 pm on 3 August 2015

The Fiji Sugar Corporation is investigating an accident in which a sugar mill worker was severely burned.

The employee was injured at the Rarawai Mill in Ba last Thursday and is in a stable condition in Lautoka Hospital.

An official investigation has been launched into the accident and the mill's general manager, Sailasa Waitawa says it is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Sugar and General Workers' Union says the accident shows a complete disregard for worker safety.

The Union's assistant general secretary, Mikaele Mataka, says the burned worker was instructed to clean out a tank but was not trained to do the technical task while other staff failed to check the temperature of the liquid.

He says the union has been voicing its concerns over safety standards for years but they have fallen on deaf ears.