Teen’s entire scalp ripped off by fruit juice factory machine in freak incident

A teenager believed she was going to die after her entire scalp was torn off in a freak accident involving a machine at a fruit juice factory, her dad has revealed.

Alexandra Trandafil, now 18, was left traumatised after her locks were yanked from her head while she worked as a shed hand at Australian juice-maker Nippy’s’ packing and processing plant in November 2020.

The teen remained conscious and she saw her own skin “hanging from the machine in front of her” after her hair got caught in moving parts while she was working.

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She was tasked with clearing a blockage on a conveyor belt as the machine was still on, and as she went to pick up some oranges from the death-trap, a chain managed to catch itself on her hair.

Paramedics retrieved the teen’s scalp from the machine, but surgeons could only reattach part of it during emergency surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Three years on, Alexandra still requires ongoing treatment as she suffered from permanent hair loss and scar tissue, her dad revealed.

Despite this, dad Darrin said that he was glad that a recent court case confirmed that Alexandra did nothing wrong during the horrific incident, telling theAdelaide Advertiser: "(We are) thankful that they've pleaded guilty and she was in no way in the wrong.”

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"We are vindicated that Alex had no wrongdoing in the incident."

Nippy’s pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching health and safety laws and was fined $120,000 (£62,000), as well as legal costs.

On top of this, an employment tribunal heard that Alexandra feared for her life after her hair became trapped in the "unguarded" machinery.

Deputy president Katherine Eaton said in her findings: "In an instant, her young and hopeful life flipped into shock, trauma, ongoing pain and disfigurement.

"She remained conscious from the moment of her injury.

"She endured not only the pain and shock of her physical injury but the terror of looking up and seeing her hair and scalp hanging from the machine in front of her.

"She thought she was going to die. Not surprisingly, she also suffers psychologically from the effects of the injury and her ongoing disability and disfigurement."

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