Court action pending over carbon monoxide poisoning

13 December 2006

The Department of Labour is prosecuting Talleys Frozen Foods Ltd after 11 Blenheim factory workers were poisoned with carbon monoxide in June.

The company has been charged with failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees, acting workplace services manager for Nelson-Marlborough Annette Baxter said.

The matter will be called in the Blenheim District Court on 25 January 2007.

The workers were overcome with carbon monoxide fumes while working in the company’s vegetable processing plant, and many of them were hospitalised overnight.

Ms Baxter said the workers were exposed to the carbon monoxide from a gas-powered forklift, which was being operated in the same confined space where the process work was being carried out.

Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, the onus is on employers to identify workplace hazards and manage them appropriately.

To the journalist: please note that health and safety services formerly referred to as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) should now be referred to as the Department of Labour.