FOOTAGE of a young McDonald’s employee suffering horrific burns after falling into an open bucket of boiling oil has been made public after a magistrate today imposed a $45,000 fine on the store. <br /> <br />Angela Buza, a shift manager at the fast food chain’s Warragul store, was in hospital for several days after being drenched in several litres of 160C oil drained from a deep fryer. <br /> <br />Ms Buza said she suffered severe pain, and became anxious and socially withdrawn after being doused in the dangerous liquid, requiring skin grafts on her arms and legs. <br /> <br />“At times I still have nightmares of the incident,” Ms Buza wrote in a victim impact statement read out in court. <br />he company was sentenced to pay a fine of $45,000, without conviction, and ordered to pay costs in the amount of $20,000. <br /> <br />CCTV footage of the November 12 shift shown to the magistrates’ court shows employee Luke Haywood manually pouring hot oil from a fryer tray into open pickle buckets on the tiles of the main walkway in the kitchen. <br /> <br />Employees were instructed to use a special oil caddie to drain the vats, and then pour the liquid safely into a tank at the back of the restaurant for transportation by contractors. <br /> <br />But the court heard Mr Haywood believed the caddie pump was broken on the day, using the buckets instead to replace the oil. <br /> <br />Several minutes into the video Ms Buza can be seen slipping on the tiles and knocking over the bucket, its contents spilling over much of her body. <br /> <br />She then jumps up and runs off in agony. <br /> <br />Mr Buza said he had used the same method to move the used oil several times in the same two months. <br /> <br />The watchdog claimed the Victoria St restaurant’s owners, Phil and Gael Wilson, failed to properly supervise the way in which oil from the store’s deep fryers was changed. <br /> <br />Defence lawyer Robert Taylor said Mr and Mrs Wilson admitted to the events but ensured employees were appropriately trained, and had no idea the banned practise was occurring. <br /> <br />“Ultimately a corporation can only act through its individual officers and agents,” he said. <br /> <br />Mr Taylor said Mrs Wilson, who had suffered severe burns as a child, was particularly concerned about workplace safety. <br /> <br />“She was horrified, frankly, to discover that this happened,” Mr Taylor said. <br /> <br />Philip Dunn QC, for WorkSafe, said Mr and Mrs Wilson must be held responsible for the actions of their employees. <br /> <br />“There’s no point having a safe working system if you don’t supervise it,” he said.
