Amputee to receive reparation

Thursday 11 March 2004

Bakels Edible Oils (NZ) Ltd were sentenced to pay $12,000 in the Tauranga District Court after being prosecuted by the Occupational Safety Health Service.

A 25-year-old male worker suffered an amputation of thumb and middle finger and had his index finger lacerated and fractured in late June 2003.

Reparation of $7500 was ordered to be paid to the victim.

Western Bay of Plenty OSH Service Manager Faye Frelan said this prosecution was the first for her region under the changes to the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 which came into force on 5 May 2003, and this was reflected in the increased level of the fine.

The amputation happened when the worker's hand came into contact with the knife in the extrusion head.

The employee was taking the extrusion head off the machine to clean contaminate out of the hopper when he slipped and his foot activated the knife. His fingers were inside the extrusion head at the time.

"The company failed to take a very simple practicable step to ensure the safety of their employee," said Mrs Frelan.

"The company should have ensured that the pastry nugget machine had a failsafe interlock guard installed. If this was done, the machine would have had nil energy and this would have prevented the accident.

"There is no excuse for an unguarded machine to be in the workplace.

"Everyone has the right to go to work and be safe. Companies must ensure that workplace hazards are identified and controlled correctly, and that their safety systems protect employees".

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