Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
25 May 2020
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$480,000

Safety lessons learned:

It was reasonably practicable for Alto Packaging Limited to have:

  • Conducted an adequate risk assessment of the Sunwell S-Wrap machine.
  • Ensured that the Sunwell S-Wrap machine was guarded in accordance with AS/NZ 4024 or an equivalent or higher standard.
  • Developed, documented and implemented an adequate standard operating procedure for the string-up of the Sunwell S-Wrap Machine.

Defendant name:
Alto Packaging Limited
 
Industry:
Manufacturing
 
Date of offence:
25 May 2020
 
Facts in brief:
The defendant is a packaging manufacturer. The Albany site is an extrusion and thermoforming site which produces expanded polystyrene foam in sheet form, which is processed into things like trays for meat products.

The victim and his colleagues were undertaking the “string up” process of threading the raw product through various parts of the S-wrap machine, including various rollers. The victim went around to the outfeed side of the machine to collect product and he was feeding it back into the lower rollers when he became drawn into the powered rollers. He died of crushing injuries. The rollers were unguarded.
 
Offence section:
S36(1)(a) and s48(1) and (2)(c) HSWA 2015
 
Date(s) charged:
20 May 2021

Court:
North Shore - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$480,000
 
Maximum fine available:
$1.5 million
 
Reparation:
Emotional harm - $130,000
Consequential loss - $134,874
Costs - $6,163.96
 
Related Documents:
PDF
WorkSafe New Zealand v Alto Packaging Limited (PDF 213 KB)
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