Flour mill fall: $310k fine for Champion Flour Milling after worker left paralysed

Champion has a flour mill in Christchurch. Photo / Google Street View

One of New Zealand's best known flour brands has been fined $310,000 after a worker was paralysed after she plunged nearly 4m from a platform.

Champion Flour Milling Limited has has also been ordered to pay the badly injured woman $100,000 after WorkSafe successfully prosecuted the company for its failings.

WorkSafe said the woman suffered life-changing injuries in July 2018 when she fell 3.7m from an unsafe fixed platform and unsecured ladder she was using to do maintenance on a grain conveyor at the Christchurch mill.

She was left paralysed from the waist down.

A Worksafe investigation discovered multiple safety failings at the plant.

The platform the woman fell from had no guard rails or permanent access and didn't meet industry standards.

Although the worker was required to wear a harness there were no rated anchor points for her to attach to.

Worksafe said that the failings were "obvious".

The Government workplace health and safety regulator also found that although Champion had policies and procedures for working at height, they were not effectively implemented.

"A worker now faces a very different life because Champion did not meet its obligations to her," said WorkSafe chief inspector Steve Kelly.

WorkSafe said businesses needed to ensure that plant was safe.

Health and safety policies and procedures would not protect workers unless they were fully and effectively implemented, so engineering controls had to be considered first, he said.