Certain jobs seem to inherently serve up more risk than others.
Take the recent case of a New Zealand meat processor Riverlands Eltham Ltd. that was fined $42,500 and ordered to pay reparations to a staff member of $12,500. This was in light of a workplace injury in which the staff member lost the end of his right index finger.
The company was convicted in the New Plymouth District Court at a hearing in December of 2013 on one charge of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of the employee while at work and sentenced today at the same court.
The employee had his finger caught in a conveyor while he was collecting blood from slaughtered animals.
Judge Rules Company Did Not Fully Protect Worker
In convicting the company, Judge Max Courtney said that notwithstanding the victim’s action in putting his hand on the conveyor, the company did not take all practicable steps to protect him by ensuring the machine was guarded, that it had a start warning system and that it had an emergency stop button in an accessible position.
“Unfortunately, there’s a worker who has been unnecessarily injured because Riverlands Eltham had not done this work – and it is notable that on the day of the accident the company installed a guard on the machine,” Chief Inspector Investigations Keith Stewart said. “It was too little too late for the worker.
Stewart added that relying on the old adage ‘it has not happened before’ as a justification for not taking foreseeable safety steps was proven by this case to be bad safety and business judgment.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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