A New Zealand worker’s 17 foot fall at work, which led to a broken pelvis and facial injuries, also led to Wellington company Ebert Construction Ltd. recently being fined $33,750, along with being ordered to pay $29,000 in reparations to the worker.
According to information from the country’s Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, in January of 2012, the worker was installing plant and equipment at Silver Fern Farms’ Te Aroha freezing works, this after significant earlier fire damage. The worker fell through a void on the first floor in which a service lift was to be placed. The hole was covered, but not fixed in place.
The worker was working for a subcontractor who Ebert Construction had contracted to complete metal work on the first floor of the plant. Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, Ebert Construction was tasked with ensuring his safety while on the job, but did not alert the workforce to the hazard, along with failing to isolate the hazard by securely fixing the cover or by providing edge protection around it.
Ministry Health & Safety Group States Accident Preventable
The Ministry’s Health and Safety Group’s Central Region General Manager, Murray Thompson claimed the accident was could have very easily been avoided.
“It is such a simple and obvious thing to do to warn workers or put adequate protection around the edge of holes like this – failure to do so in this case has significantly and unnecessarily injured a worker,” Thompson commented. “The construction sector is one of New Zealand’s most dangerous and the Ministry has a nationwide programme in place to educate employers and employees on the dangers of falls from heights. Work at height must be actively managed so that people are not harmed or killed as a result. Doing nothing is not an option.”
As Thompson sees it, the Ministry will “not hesitate to prosecute where falls result in serious injury.”
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].
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