A devastating fire destroyed the boning room and chillers at Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory in Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia, and left 120 workers in limbo. But the company developed a plan to keep workers on the job and the pork flowing.
The 120 employees will work out of a processing facility in Wulkuraka, a suburb of Ipswich, during construction of a temporary camp in Wulkuraka. In the meantime, workers continue to fill two of the biggest hotels in Ipswich.
The November 2016 fire destroyed the export distribution center, boning room and chillers at Swickers, according to parent company SunPork Group. But the processing floor, value-add facilities, offices, a new warehouse chiller and dry goods store were undamaged. No one was injured, and no pigs were on site.
Swickers is the only export-accredited bacon factory in Queensland, Australia. The pork processor engages in pig slaughter and wholesale of fresh pork including hams, bacon and other products. SunPork said it will take an estimated 12 months to rebuild the processing plant.
