Failure to clearly communicate health and safety responsibilities has seen a company fined $281,250 after a migrant worker was crushed by a trailer When employing migrant workers it is vital to ensure they clearly understand health and safety risks and the measures in place to control them. Continue →

An able seaman on a ship loading logs was fatally injured when a cable snapped under too much tension and securing equipment recoiled, says the Transport Accident Investigation Commission in its Final Report on the accident The accident occurred at Eastland Port, Gisborne, on the night of 3 April 2019. Continue →

None of the workers were trained in the use of height safety equipment, or supervised by a competent person, says WorkSafe’s Acting Chief Inspector Danielle Henry The incident occurred in Kerikeri in April 2018 in which workers were using a man cage to work at a height while building an agricultural shed. Continue →

WorkSafe is reminding everyone that children are always at risk on worksites, after an unsupported stack of wood collapsed on a three-year-old   In March 2016 a three-year-old boy was visiting his father for lunch at a Timaru lumber yard. Continue →

A mechanics workshop has dodged a $400,000 fine after an untrained worker was crushed by the truck he was working on It was the young worker’s second day on the job as a trainee and he had been left unsupervised at the time of the incident. Continue →

A company has been fined $270,937 after workers were injured by a gate with a known history of problems that had not been addressed Dairy farming company, Otago Rural Management Limited was fined $270,937 at the Queenstown District Court yesterday after a worker was injured by a falling gate in June 2017. Continue →

WorkSafe has accepted an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) from Hawke’s Bay District Health Board following a 2018 accident in which a patient fell from a patient lifter while being transferred from an air ambulance to a road ambulance Head of Specialist Interventions for Worksafe Simon Humphries says the DHB had proposed a series of commitments within their application that would help ensure the incident would not happen again, not just in Hawke’s Bay but New Zealand wide. Continue →

Mangere based company Guru NZ Limited has been ordered to pay a fine of $330,750 plus $110,000 in reparations after a worker suffered fatal crushing injuries At the time of the incident the victim was helping a colleague to close doors on a container filled with logs for export. Continue →

Hand and finger injuries in the workplace are an ongoing concern. Continue →

The completion of an Enforceable Undertaking (EU) by Woods Glass has highlighted some of the benefits of the WorkSafe enforcement tool that serves as an alternative to prosecution In 2018 a Woods Glass worker suffered crushing injuries to their leg while operating a glass cutting machine. Continue →

WorkSafe has accepted an enforceable undertaking from building company Stevenson and Williams Limited and another from Bramwell Scaffolding Limited that will cost both companies almost $200,000 The victim (an employee of another PCBU, subcontracted to Bramwell Scaffolding Ltd who, in turn, were contracted by Stevenson and Williams Ltd) was working at height on a scaffold, when he fell approximately 3.5 metres to the ground, hitting his head and losing consciousness. Continue →

WorkSafe is reminding companies to ensure the contractors they employ are competent for the job at hand after an inexperienced forestry worker was hit by a falling tree Central Siteworks Limited (in liquidation) was sentenced at the Waitakere District Court for failing to ensure a worker was safe while felling trees. Continue →

A registered and licensed electrician was fatally injured while working on a water pump assembly The pump was on a dairy farm in a very small pump shed. Continue →

Too many New Zealanders continue to suffer injuries at work with manufacturing one of the highest risk sectors, says ACC, which is now helping manufacturing businesses to improve workplace safety with a workplace injury prevention subsidy On average five people die and 4,528 people are severely injured in the manufacturing industry each year. Continue →

A school board of trustees was sentenced at the Tokoroa District Court after a mobile scaffold toppled over, injuring a teacher and student Mobile scaffolding was erected in Forest View High School’s auditorium to assist with setting up lighting for plays and assemblies. Continue →

More people take chances at lower heights because they seem less of a risk, but these kinds of falls come with their own dangers It doesn’t take much height to lead to a fatal fall. Continue →

A North Island company must pay out over $500,000 after a workplace incident on a mobile elevating work platform left a worker permanently paralysed from the neck down In a reserved decision released by the Tauranga District Court, Supermac Group Resources Limited was fined $304,750 and ordered to pay reparation of $238,000 following the incident in May 2016. Continue →