Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Accident costs firms $138,000

By Rebecca Savory and Amy McGillivray
Bay of Plenty Times·
19 Aug, 2014 07:42 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Mount Pack and Cool is one of three companies fined a total of almost $120,000 and ordered to pay combined reparation of $20,000 after a woman was struck by a reversing forklift. Photo / John Borren

Mount Pack and Cool is one of three companies fined a total of almost $120,000 and ordered to pay combined reparation of $20,000 after a woman was struck by a reversing forklift. Photo / John Borren

Three companies have been fined a total of almost $120,000 and ordered to pay combined reparation of $20,000 after a woman was struck by a reversing forklift at a kiwifruit pack house at Mount Maunganui.

Erica Machado, 33, suffered a fractured ankle which required pins to mend it, as well as a large laceration to one of her legs in the May 2013 accident.

She had been straightening rows of boxes in an area of the pack house designated for the assembly of kiwifruit packaging trays when the forklift backed into her.

The company that employed her, LRK Trays, the pack house operator and employer of the forklift driver Mount Pack and Cool and the company that supplied the kiwifruit trays, Orora Packaging (formerly Amcor Packaging NZ) were all convicted under the Health and Safety in Employment Act of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that she was not harmed at work.

Tauranga District Court fined the companies $39,375 each on Monday.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The $20,000 in reparation was split evenly between the three companies.

WorkSafe New Zealand's chief investigator Keith Stewart said the companies failed to put in place proper workplace rules to manage the risk posed by forklifts to workers.

"This incident could have been easily avoided if a barrier had been put in place to prevent the forklift from moving into the tray makers' area.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Without proper barriers or some form of isolation an accident such as this was sadly predictable.

"All three companies should have done more to ensure that forklifts were kept well away from the area Ms Machado was working in."

LRK Trays owner and director Luke Kenealy said a lot of work had been done with health and safety, traffic management plans and standard operating procedures for forklifts since the incident.

"In 90 per cent of the places we work we now have barriers," he said.

It was a large fine for a small company to pay but he accepted the judge's decision.

"It's an eye opener for small businesses operating on someone else's premises that you are fully responsible for your employees."

A spokeswoman for Orora Packaging said the company, which supplied the boxes the fruit were being packed into at the time of the accident, accepted it was involved and could have done better even though they were a couple of steps removed from the operations.

How much

LRK Trays: $39,375 fine plus $6,666 reparation

Mount Pack and Cool: $39,375 fine plus $6,666 reparation

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Orora Packaging: $39,375 fine plus $6,666 reparation

Total: $118,125 in fines and $20,000 reparation

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM

The man apologised to his victim, but pleaded not guilty.

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM
Downhill mountain bikers impress on world stage

Downhill mountain bikers impress on world stage

07 Jul 06:38 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP