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Jason Matahiki points to the back of his head. The hook went in here, he says. Then his hand moves to the front of his face. That’s where it came out.”I rub my face like this sometimes,” he says, pressing his fingers into the flesh at the side of his face, grasping and kneading at it. “It’s little things I do to the side of my head.”The 44 year old, known as Whopper, is not what he used to be. That’s what a meat hook through the head will do.I have nightmares, a sore head, headaches, I hardly sleep. Sometimes I hardly eat. Sometimes the pain is so unbearable. My recovery? It was a jokeMatahiki had gone to work at the Affco plant in Rangiuru, where he worked as a cleaner.This particular shift, in August 2014, Nike Air Force 1 AF1 315122-111 Unisex Weiß Österreich was no different to any other. There were fewer people working than in previous years, he recalled, but the job still got done.It was the mutton slaughter room where it happened. It takes five hours to clean.”Some people say it’s easy but it’s not. I thought it was easy but it’s hard. The scanner had been moved but the frame remained.No one, including Affco, identified it as a potential risk.But that wasn’t all. That night, the chain was activated as “detailing” checks were done; cleaners checked crannies and nooks for meat and muck missed first time around.Was Matahiki distracted with the machinery coming to life? Did he lose his footing? Did he stand as the hook came behind?There was no doubt Affco took its health and safety responsibilities seriously, Judge Peter Rollo noted as he found them guilty last November. However, Judge Rollo found the company had breached health and safety laws by failing to ensure the safety of an employee.The maximum penalty is a $250,000 fine. Affco will be sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today.One minute I was at work and the next minute I was in hospitalAt last November’s hearing the company’s manuals and procedures were detailed. They showed the chain was not meant to be moving.Affco had claimed the chain was moving according to current industry practice, despite its manuals detailing precise processes for shutting it down. A padlock was used to ensure it couldn’t be activated while cleaning was underway.But it was. And when Matahiki’s head was caught by the 30cm long hook, it pushed him forward until he was jammed against the scanner frame.Matahiki was caught between the hook and a hard place with nowhere to go. The blunt, thick hook was forced through his head and came out under his eye. The chain kept rolling and it took Matahiki with it. Hooked, he was dragged clear and down the chain.Someone hit the big, red emergency button. The chain jerked to a halt.”I don’t remember much about the accident,” says Matahiki, absently rubbing at the place the hook went in. “All I know is one minute I was at work and Adidas Stan Smith Weiß Regenbogen Wien the next minute I was in hospital and it was the next morning.”The lost time is a blessing. He hung there for up to an hour while some supported his weight as others scrabbled at the hook to free it from the chain.The hook that was embedded in AFFCO worker Jason Matahiki’s head after a workplace accident. Photo supplied to the NZ HeraldAn ambulance arrived and Matahiki was shot full of drugs but it wasn’t until the fire brigade arrived that Matahiki came off the chain. The firefighter who got him down a mate told him later he was “so drugged up” he was “cracking out jokes”.His mate recounted what happened next. Matahiki was laid on a gurney, wheeled out of work to an ambulance. He had to get up as the gurney reached a drain running across the floor.