Affco will defend a charge of failing to ensure an employee's safety after a man was caught on a meat hook. Photo / File
Affco will defend a charge of failing to ensure an employee's safety after a man was caught on a meat hook. Photo / File
Worksafe New Zealand is prosecuting Affco after an employee was impaled in the head by a meat hook and dragged at its Rangiuru meat processing plant.
In August last year Jason Matahiki was part of a two-man night-shift team cleaning spreader hooks - which hold cow carcasses' legs apart ona chain conveyor - when a hook hit him from behind.
Yesterday Worksafe New Zealand brought a charge against the meat processing plant under the Health and Safety Employment Act. A Worksafe New Zealand spokesman said Affco pleaded not guilty to one charge of being an employer that failed to take all the practical steps to ensure its employee was not exposed to the hazards of the moving chain.
Affco faced a maximum fine of up to $250,000, the spokesman said.
The matter would likely go to trial on August 29 in the Tauranga District Court.
