A Northland man will get $20,000 from his employer, Carter Holt Harvey, after he lost four fingers in a wood-chipping machine while trying to change the blades.
The company - one of New Zealand's biggest - was also fined $44,887.50 after pleading guilty to a charge of failing to take steps to ensure an employee was not harmed under the Health and Safety Act.
The court heard how the employee had not followed the correct procedures and, on February 5 this year, as he was about to change the blades in the machine, his right hand was pulled into the rotating blades of the chipper and four fingers were amputated.
In the Whangarei District Court yesterday, Judge Greg Davis said the person changing the blades was required to turn the power off to isolate the power source. A brake was applied and then when the blades had stopped rotating the safety hood was removed and the blades changed.
The blades in the chipper, at the company's LVL plant at Marsden Point, are required to be changed every six hours and the process takes about 30 minutes.