Tamworth farmer Bede Burke asks court to be spared conviction for charges stemming from worker's farm injury

Lawyers for Bede Burke, 63, asked Judge Wendy Strathdee to record no conviction at a hearing at the NSW District Court in Sydney on Monday.

Burke, who appeared in court and was sporting a tie emblazoned with rooster images, had pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the site of a notifiable incident was not disturbed, failing to ensure that the regulator was notified immediately, and failing to comply with health and safety duty, risking death or serious injury.

Burke and his wife Narelle own the egg farm on the edge of Tamworth where the incident occurred on January 15, 2020.

According to court documents seen by AAP, employee Desmond Saunders was attempting to repair a four-metre high conveyor while standing on a forklift and pallet.

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His hand was sliced open and a finger fractured after being caught on the moving belt and dragged underneath the drum roller.

Mr Saunders was taken to Tamworth hospital, and required multiple surgeries and the reconstruction of his left shoulder.

"Saunders has not returned to work and has been left with a permanent impairment of his left hand," agreed facts filed with the court say.

Mr Saunders and another worker, John Wood, were working in the "danger zone" of the manure conveyor as the machine was turned on and off by Richard Burke at a control panel in a chicken shed 15 metres away.

There was no safe system to isolate the area during repairs or maintenance, the agreed facts state.

The two men were standing on the elevated pallet and exposed to entanglement, pinch and shear hazards within the machinery.

A work platform which included guard rails was also available on the premises but was not used.

While Burke, who was chair of the NSW Nationals from 2014 to 2019, was notified of the incident, he allegedly did not inform SafeWork.

Instead, it was brought to the agency's attention by a member of Mr Saunders' family six days afterwards.

The forklift and pallet were moved, and the conveyor repaired by another farmhand.

Burke will return to court for a sentence hearing on June 28.

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