Slaughterer

A slaughterer works in an abattoir or meat processing facility to humanely dispatch livestock and prepare carcasses for further processing. The role involves operating stunning and killing equipment, monitoring animal welfare during the process, and following strict hygiene and food safety protocols set by state food safety regulators and export certification bodies. Work is performed in a fast-paced, temperature-controlled environment with direct responsibility for compliance with animal welfare legislation and food chain safety standards.

Operate pneumatic or electrical stunning equipment to render livestock unconscious before slaughter in accordance with animal welfare standards. Perform exsanguination (bleeding) procedures using sharp knives and maintaining strict hygiene to prevent pathogenic contamination. Monitor animal behaviour and movement to identify and report signs of distress or injury before processing. Inspect carcasses for visible defects, disease, or contamination and segregate non-compliant stock for veterinary assessment. Use hoses and sanitising solutions to clean equipment, work surfaces, and personal protective equipment between animal batches. Maintain sharply honed knives and cutting tools to required standards and report dulled or damaged equipment for replacement. Follow lockout-tagout (LOTO) procedures and Safe Work Australia guidelines when servicing or maintaining processing machinery. Record throughput, reject rates, and equipment downtime on production sheets for traceability and food safety auditing.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The work is physically and mentally demanding. You'll be on your feet in cold, wet conditions handling sharp tools and heavy equipment at high speed for eight-hour shifts. The emotional toll of regularly killing animals can wear on you, even when done humanely. Pay is modest and unlikely to rise much without moving into supervision.

Jobs concentrate in regional areas near livestock supply. Some work exists in metro areas but most facilities are rural. Remote work is not possible in this role.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 8312, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Goods Receipt Processing
• Health Terminology Literacy
• Inventory Tracking
• Process Improvement Identification
• Record Management
• Verbal Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Slaughterer workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026