Te Puke pet food company Addiction Foods faces fine after part of worker’s finger amputated

The Addiction Foods facility on Jellicoe St, Te Puke. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

A Te Puke-based pet food business is facing a fine of up to $1.5 million after part of a worker’s finger was cut off on the job - the second finger amputation at the business in three years.F

Addiction Foods NZ Ltd (Addiction Foods), which operates a plant which exports dry pet food, appeared in court last week. It has admitted failing to have a safe operating procedure or a safe system of work to ensure their worker was not put at risk of serious injury.

In June 2018, a worker had three fingers partially amputated after they were trapped inside the heating elements of a granule-packing machine and crushed and burned. The company was convicted and fined $132,000 in July 2020.

A year later, on April 5, 2021, another worker had part of a finger amputated while trying to clear a blockage from a processing machine at the plant called an extruder.

An extruder is basically a screw pump that rotates in a tightly fitted barrel. Semi-moist feed or dried materials are introduced into the extruder, usually at a constant rate.

WorkSafe laid the latest charge against Addiction Foods after investigating the amputation, which happened when the worker’s finger came in contact with a twin-screw mechanism of the extruder.

WorkSafe’s summary of facts obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times said the opening to the extruder was not adequately guarded and a component called a diverter was only held by two bolts so it could be removed more easily for cleaning. It was not fitted with an interlock switch.

The defendant had not identified or documented the hazard associated with removing the diverter, the summary of facts said.

It said the victim and their two co-workers were told at the start of their shifts that there had been an earlier blockage in the processing equipment.

A co-worker took steps to address the blockage while the victim used tools to open the hinged guard of the extruder.

This guard was fitted with an interlock switch to prevent the cutting blades from operating when opened, but the switch did not stop the extruder. In order to check for blockages, the victim removed the diverter.

The victim restarted the extruder to remove any product left in the barrel, then tried to clear a blockage by placing a hand into the opening to the extruder, and a finger came into contact with the twin-screw mechanism, resulting in a partial amputation.

The victim told WorkSafe they forgot they turned the extractor back on.

WorkSafe’s investigation found Addiction Foods had standard operating procedures in place for the normal use of the extruder, routine cleaning and lock-out/tag-out procedures. However, it did not have a safe operating procedure or a safe system of work for the removal of the diverter to address blockages.

Following the 2021 accident, WorkSafe issued a prohibition notice banning the use of the extruder, and Addiction Foods took several measures to improve the safety of the machinery.

This included installing extra safety switches; modifications to prevent access to moving parts; a new guard to cover the knife end of the extruder during cleaning; adding an extra emergency stop; and installing a Flexisoft safety controller and safety contractors.

WorkSafe said Addiction Foods had previously been issued improvement notices in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 in relation to various alleged failings of its health and safety procedures, and the company complied with all those notices to “WorkSafe’s satisfaction”, the summary of facts said.

In 2018, following WorkSafe improvement notices, Addiction Foods engaged an engineer to conduct a risk assessment on its machinery and the previous extruder was replaced with the one involved in the latest accident, the summary said.

The extruder was imported from an overseas manufacturer and installed by a local engineering company.

This is the second time Addiction Foods has been prosecuted for a Health and Safety breach involving an injured worker in less than three years.

The first was the 2018 incident. In that case, the company failed to ensure the machine was adequately guarded, appropriate controls including lock-out/tag-out procedures were in place, and also failed to develop and implement a “safe operating procedure” for the machine, WorkSafe said.

Last Thursday in the Tauranga District Court, Judge Melinda Mason remanded Addiction Foods to reappear on May 26 for sentencing.

The maximum penalty for the offence is a $1.5 million fine.

Judge Mason granted WorkSafe’s request to suppress the victim’s identity before sentencing, but she said that would need to be revisited at sentencing.