increase font size
Kakariki Proteins Limited was sentenced on Monday in the Palmerston North District Court for health and safety failings.
A Manawatu factory worker’s death underscores the importance of carrying out a dedicated risk assessment before modifying machinery in a workplace, says WorkSafe.
47-year-old Dwayne Summers died after being trapped and crushed, while using a meal bagging machine at Kakariki Proteins Limited in April 2021. The Feilding business was subsequently charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
Kakariki Proteins Limited was sentenced on Monday in the Palmerston North District Court for health and safety failings.
A fine of $350,000 was imposed, with reparations of $130,000 ordered.
A WorkSafe investigation found the machine involved was a replica of another installed at the site. The replica had been modified to fit a new location, creating significant crushing hazards that were overlooked by the business.
The replica machine was also missing a physical barrier between the worker and exposed moving parts. The company’s health and safety consultant was also not an expert in machine guarding.
The investigation found that Kaikariki Proteins did not conduct an adequate risk assessment on the replica, failed to train its staff to use the machine properly, and did not adequately supervise them. There was also no easily accessible lockable isolating switch to stop the machine quickly in an emergency.
“Any business installing a new piece of equipment must identify the risks,” says WorkSafe area investigation manager, Paul West.
“It sounds simple but is so often missed. You might have a machine that works perfectly well, but if you move or replicate it, ask yourself how the device is going to be used and if a hazard has been introduced. If you are bringing in a consultant, make sure they are competent in the job you’re asking them to do,” he says.
“Our investigation findings transcend this particular site and industry. As a country, we owe it to victims like Dwayne Summers to pay closer attention to modified machinery.”
A farm owner and two former Waikato contract milkers were recently fined $27,000 over a lack of feed for 230 cattle and a lack of treatment for cows suffering from milk fever.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
Convictions and fines totalling $112,500 have been imposed on a logging company for repeated environmental damage on a farm near Wahi between August 2022 and October 2023.
WorkSafe New Zealand is calling on farmers to consider how vehicles move inside their barns and sheds, following a sentencing for a death at one of South Canterbury’s biggest agribusinesses.
Following a sentencing for a death at a South Canterbury agribusiness, WorkSafe New Zealand is calling on farmers to consider how vehicles move inside their barns and sheds.
Academic freedom is a privilege and it's put at risk when people abuse it.
All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.
Claims that some Southland farmers were invoiced up to $4000 for winter grazing compliance checks despite not breaching rules are being rejected by Environment Southland.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.
