Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
4 June 2015
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$37,750

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Conduct a site visit to assess what hazards their on-hire employee would be exposed to at a client’s site before the on-hire employee started work;
  2. Request a detailed job description for an on-hire employee’s role. This information should detail the nature of the plant, equipment, substances and materials that will be used, the tasks required, the identified hazards and the control measures in place;
  3. Conduct regular workplace visits with all their on-hire employees to discuss the job, conditions and supervision and ensure there were no Health and Safety concerns while at the workplace; and
  4. Inspect a workplace and observe the work processes and practices on-hire employees carry out to ensure that they carry out the agreed work tasks safely.

Defendant name:
AWF Limited
 
Industry:
Manufacturing
 
Date of offence:
4 June 2015
 
Facts in brief:
The Defendant is a labour hire company. The Defendant was contracted to provide labour to Sanford Limited.

The victim is an employee of the Defendant. The victim was contracted to work as a chiller hand at Sanford Limited’s fish factory in Bluff.

On the day of the incident, the victim was hosing down the processing area when he spotted a fish head stuck in the manual fish deheader machine. The victim reached into a fish processing machine to remove a fish-head. As he did so, he inadvertently activated the machine via the foot pedal causing the blade to come down and slice through his right forearm.

The victim suffered four fractures to his arm and the blade cut through his muscles and tendons.
 
Related prosecutions:
 
Offence section:
Section 6 and 50(1)(a) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Invercargill - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$37,750
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$30,126 (apportioned between Sanford Limited and AWF Limited with each Defendant paying $15,063)