Company fined after worker breaks multiple bones

A quarry worker fractured his skull, neck, back and ribs in a fall at a quarry south of Dunedin in September. File photo / NZ Herald

An Otago quarry company has been fined more than $28,000 and ordered to pay $20,000 in reparations after an employee suffered multiple fractures.

The Dunedin District Court was told the injured employee was one of three doing routine maintenance work on a rock crusher at the Blackhead Quarry south of Dunedin on September 1 last year.

The man stepped from a work platform on to the crusher and slipped, hitting his head on a shed as he fell at least 3.6 metres to the ground. The quarryman fractured his skull, neck, back and ribs in the fall.

"Our investigation found there were no barriers on the side of the crusher where the employee fell," Department of Labour service manager John Pannett said.

The lack of fall protection did not comply with industry standards or the company's own standards, he said.

The company was convicted of offences relating to workplace safety and has since put up a mesh fence barrier to prevent employees from stepping off the work platform on to the crusher.

- NZPA