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Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
22 December 2015
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$28,875

Safety lessons learned:
  • Have effective and documented systems to safely store different types and sizes of timber products with employees being trained in where and how such items should be stored and were to be stored;
  • Ensure appropriate independent checks were undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that timber was racked securely and not being left in a position where they were liable to fall to the ground or to be moved unexpectedly;
  • Enforce an exclusion zone near to and alongside the racking system particularly when forklift operations were being undertaken; and
  • Develop and implement an effective system to control access and ensure the safety of pedestrian traffic in the timber yard.

Defendant name:
Macready Building Supplies Limited
 
Industry:
Retail
 
Date of offence:
22 December 2015
 
Facts in brief:
The Defendant company trades as PlaceMakers Dunedin and operates as a retail business to the building trade and to the public.

Members of the public have direct access to the Defendant’s timber yard. On the day of the incident, a forklift operator was removing a packet of timber from a cantilever racking. The timber packet caught the end of a packet of weatherboards on an adjacent rack which was knocked off and struck a pedestrian.

The victim suffered a traverse process fracture of the L1 vertebrae.
 
Offence section:
Sections 16(2) and 50(1)(a) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Dunedin - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$28,875
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$37,500