Company fined $50,000 after man crushed

The man was crushed between a moving pallet and a stationary one. Photo / File

Wood processing company Winstone Pulp International has been ordered to pay $65,000 in fines and reparations after one of its employees was crushed between wooden pallets last year.

The Tangiwai company appeared in Ohakune District Court last week and was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety Employment Act.

The processing company has to pay a fine of $50,000 for the breach and a reparation sum of $10,000 to the worker, who was left with a broken collarbone and cracked rib from the accident in November last year.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the worker was unable to hear the siren warning of an approaching pallet.

As a result, he was crushed between a moving pallet and a stationary one.

The ministry's health and safety manager for the central region, Ona De Rooy, said accident was an unacceptable example of an employer failing to take the steps required to ensure workers are safe.

"Winstone has been remiss in a number of ways when it comes to the safety of its employees," she said.

"There should have been adequate staffing to operate the stacker machine and the machine should have had a 'dead man' switch to prevent the stacker from automatically advancing the pallets."

The victim should also have been trained to work on the machine if that was what he was required to do, said Ms De Rooy.