POULTRY company Ingham’s will surrender safety and maintenance records to authorities after the collapse of its Cardiff grain silo.
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Work health and safety authority SafeWork NSW said investigators would probe the design, maintenance and inspection regimes for the 3500-tonne grain silo, which spectacularly fell to the ground on Monday afternoon – thankfully without causing injury.
Engineers were at the Nelson Road feedmill on Tuesday to examine the structural integrity of two other silos, both of which were dented by the fall of the main silo.
Crews, assisted by two large bulldozers, began cleaning up the grain in the afternoon.
The grain, estimated to be worth at least $360,000 on current market prices, was strewn over a large section of the Ingham’s site, forming mounds in some places.
Investigators were yet to determine why the silo suddenly collapsed.
However, the Newcastle Herald can confirm a trainload of grain was delivered to the site just hours before the collapse.
An Ingham’s spokeswoman insisted the company’s Cardiff silos were regularly inspected, with maintenance carried out when needed.
A witness to Monday’s silo failure compared the rumblings to the 1989 Newcastle earthquake.
“It was about 10 or 15 seconds of shaking and then whoosh – the grain came funnelling out,” said the man, who works next door. “It was just unbelievable; so lucky no one was hurt.”
The site is expected to be closed until next week. The company was hopeful of recovering the grain for reuse.
The company employs 18 people at the Nelson Road feedmill.
Many hundreds more workers were employed at the company’s former Cardiff poultry processing plant until its closure last year.
Ingham’s is the country’s biggest chicken producer.
