Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required for the safe and humane handling of animals prior to slaughter.
This unit is for workers who are employed to undertake ante-mortem inspection or who assist those undertaking ante-mortem inspection. Such inspection may occur in a slaughtering establishment or stockyard or lairage.
All work should be carried out to comply with workplace procedures, regulatory and customer requirements and product specifications.
This unit applies to individuals who work under broad direction and take responsibility for their own work including limited responsibility for the work of others. They provide and communicate solutions to a range of predictable problems.
No occupational licensing, legislative or certification requirements are known to apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit must be delivered and assessed in the context of Australian meat processing standards and regulations.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Element | Performance criteria |
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Identify animal species and breeds, and their behavioural characteristics | 1.1 Identify common breeds 1.2 Identify normal behavioural characteristics of relevant species |
2. Identify and comply with animal welfare requirements for stock handling and lairage facilities | 2.1 Identify and comply with animal welfare regulatory requirements 2.2 Identify workplace and regulatory requirements for lairage and confirm as suitable for use 2.3 Identify facilities and equipment and confirm as suitable for use |
3. Handle animals to achieve objective or outcome required | 3.1 Move and process animals (e.g. for ante-mortem inspection) and sort as required by workplace and regulatory standards 3.2 Identify and comply with workplace health and safety requirements for handling animals 3.3 Handle animals appropriately to prevent injury, minimise stress and maintain the quality of meat, hides or skins |
4. Handle contingencies | 4.1 Handle suspect sick or injured stock in accordance with workplace and regulatory requirements 4.2 Handle wild or uncooperative animals humanely without disturbing or injuring other animals or people |
5. Deal with affected animals appropriately | 5.1 Treat affected animals in accordance with regulatory, workplace and health and safety requirements |
Evidence of Performance
The candidate must safely and humanely handle animals while conducting ante-mortem inspection.
The candidate must:
take steps to minimise stress and injury to stock during handling procedures
handle animals humanely during ante-mortem inspection
handle sick and injured animals in accordance with workplace and regulatory requirements
apply emergency procedures as required
use effective interpersonal skills in a range of contexts, including stressful situations
comply with workplace health and safety requirements for handling stock
use communication skills relevant to work instructions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a factual, technical, procedural and theoretical knowledge of:
enterprise arrangements for emergency kill and humane destruction
methods to handle livestock in a calm and low-stress manner
impact of stress during handling on the ultimate pH and quality of meat
impact of poor handling
workplace health and safety requirements for handling stock
regulatory and workplace requirements for animal welfare
documentation required for ante-mortem inspection
regulatory requirements when dealing with animals affected by common and exotic or notifiable diseases including:
animal welfare legislation
Department of Agriculture and/or state meat authority regulation
company procedures
any specific company requirements.
procedures for dealing with animal-handling emergencies
Assessment Conditions
Competency must be assessed in a stockyard or lairage under real working conditions.
As a minimum the following three forms of assessment must be used:
quiz of underpinning knowledge
workplace demonstration
workplace referee or third-party report of performance over time
Assessors must satisfy the current standards for RTOs.
Foundation Skills
Foundation Skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.