Donovan Group fined $225k after worker’s finger partially amputated

WorkSafe announced the outcome of legal action against the business today. Photo / Supplied

WorkSafe New Zealand is urging vigilance after a Northland worker lost part of a finger in a machine press which didn’t have a safety guard to protect people.

Donovan Group NZ, headquartered in Whangārei, was fined $225,000 in the Whangārei District Court yesterday and ordered to pay $31,000 reparations.

While working on a steel bending and pressing machine, the victim became unbalanced and his left hand slipped into the pressing mechanism as it was operating, WorkSafe said today.

That resulted in the partial amputation of a finger and the victim was off work for two months recovering.

Danielle Henry, WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, said: “This machine was not fitted with any observable safety devices. It was possible to have physical guards and safety sensors installed on the machine, which would have protected the workers using it.”

An investigation also found the victim was not taken through a risk assessment for the machine and there was an assumption that the standard operating procedures were for the safety supervisor to be familiar with.

“This is yet another instance where the courts have clearly said it’s not acceptable to expose workers to risk of harm from unguarded machinery. There have been dozens of prosecutions for similar events. The solutions are available and effective, so there are no excuses. Clear guidance, standards, and options for machine guarding have existed for many years, and the wider manufacturing industry needs to do better,” Henry said today.

Donovan was charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

It had a duty to ensure the health and safety of workers operating an Amada Press Brake Model Promecam RG80, WorkSafe said.

The company failed to comply with that duty and that failure exposed the worker to a risk of serious injury arising from exposure to moving parts of the press, it said.

The maximum penalty is a fine of $1.5 million.

Late last month, the Herald reported on a Canterbury renovations company ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in reparations and fines following a worker’s fatal fall from a roof last year.

John James Moreton, 56, died while painting the roof of a building in Sydenham, Christchurch last February.

His company, J & J Decorators Ltd, had been contracted by small local firm Dans Renovations Ltd to water blast and do two coats of roof paint at the Orbell St building.

But about 10.40am on February 4 last year, while painting on the southeast corner, he fell over a 30cm-high parapet at the roof’s edge and plummeted 4.5m to his death.

Also last month, a migrant scaffolder died on a Summerset Group retirement village construction site at St Johns.

Michael Noche from the Philippines had been dreaming of bringing his wife and children here, a union chief said.

Mikee Santos, a Union Network of Migrants coordinator, said Noche’s death was a tragedy.

“The family’s years of planning to come to New Zealand have now been shattered - the devastation. They planned to start a new life here but this tragedy means the loss of a father and husband and their dream of coming to this country. That cuts deep not only on that family but every Filipino family in New Zealand,” Santos said.

Noche had been in New Zealand for about four years and was working at height on the site of Summerfield St Johns, 188 St Johns Rd.