The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Central Otago orchard fined nearly $300,000 after worker’s hands caught in conveyor belt

Otago Daily Times
4 Sep, 2023 09:51 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Cherry grower Clyde Orchards (1990) Ltd had been sentenced for health and safety failures related to the incident in 2021. Photo / Duncan Brown

Cherry grower Clyde Orchards (1990) Ltd had been sentenced for health and safety failures related to the incident in 2021. Photo / Duncan Brown

Clyde Orchards has been hit with nearly $300,000 worth of penalties after a worker suffered serious injury to his hands in its packing shed.

The teenage worker needed three fingers partly amputated when his summer holiday job went horribly wrong in a workplace incident with a leading stone fruit producer in Central Otago in February 2021.

Matthew Nevill, who was 19 at the time, was trying to fix a chain on a conveyor belt at Clyde Orchards when his hands were drawn into the machine.

He had two fingers fractured on his left hand and needed surgery to partly amputate three fingers on his right.

Worksafe said in a press release yesterday a reserved decision of the Alexandra District Court says Clyde Orchards (1990) Limited had been sentenced for its health and safety failures related to the incident.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A WorkSafe investigation found poor safeguarding of the machinery and an inadequate risk assessment contributed to the man’s injuries.

There were also no lockouts to safely isolate and de-energise the parts of machinery that could cause harm to workers.

The conveyor involved has been decommissioned.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“The injuries in this case were significant and affected the independence of Mr Nevill, who was on his fifth consecutive summer working for Clyde Orchards,” WorkSafe’s area investigation manager Steve Kelly said.

“Although he was the unfortunate victim, it could have been anyone on staff given the risks that were present.

“Seasonal workers are just as entitled to health and safety protection as those who work year-round in a business.

“The shortcomings in this case are simply not good enough when we know seasonal workers are at greater risk of workplace harm.

“Seasonal work and tasks like harvest can put a huge amount of pressure on everyone involved, so managing the risks is essential. The lives, health and wellbeing of workers must be your number one priority.

“We will continue to hold manufacturers to account for failing in their health and safety responsibilities.”

Clyde Orchards was sentenced in a reserved decision from the Alexandra court on September 1 this year. 

A fine of $225,000 was imposed. Reparations of $62,645 were ordered, but $25,000 of this was paid before sentencing.

Clyde Orchards was charged under sections 36(1)(a), 48(2)(c), of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. 

Being a PCBU (a person conducting a business or undertaking) having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, namely work involved in the packhouse operation, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed workers to risk of serious injury.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The maximum penalty is a fine of not more than $1.5 million.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Opinion

Glenn Dwight: 'Chief Excitement Officer' and other unsung community heroes

07 Feb 05:00 PM
The Country

'The curse of this scrub': The mānuka blight fight of 1949

07 Feb 04:00 PM
OpinionKem Ormond

Vege tips: The highs and lows of parsnip growing

07 Feb 04:00 PM

Sponsored

Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 

15 Jan 12:33 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Glenn Dwight: 'Chief Excitement Officer' and other unsung community heroes
Opinion

Glenn Dwight: 'Chief Excitement Officer' and other unsung community heroes

OPINION: From the hall kitchen to the trestle table, volunteers power every event.

07 Feb 05:00 PM
'The curse of this scrub': The mānuka blight fight of 1949
The Country

'The curse of this scrub': The mānuka blight fight of 1949

07 Feb 04:00 PM
Vege tips: The highs and lows of parsnip growing
Kem Ormond
OpinionKem Ormond

Vege tips: The highs and lows of parsnip growing

07 Feb 04:00 PM


Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 
Sponsored

Discover Australia with AAT Kings’ easy-going guided holidays 

15 Jan 12:33 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2026 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP