After a worker in the kiwifruit industry was traumatically injured, WorkSafe has accepted a commitment from his employer to an enforceable undertaking centered around using Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI technology to sense pedestrians around forklifts is the centrepiece of a new safety commitment WorkSafe has accepted from a major player in the kiwifruit industry. Continue →

Courts have imposed more than half a million dollars in penalties since mid-March, in cases where workers have lost fingers on machinery that wasn’t kept safe by businesses “Businesses must manage their risks to keep workers safe. Continue →

WorkSafe New Zealand says urgent action is needed by the trades to take better care of apprentices, after the second court sentencing this year for health and safety failures resulting in a trainee’s death Josh Masters was fixing the hydraulics on a log loader when the vehicle’s boom fell and crushed him at Balmoral Forest in North Canterbury in January 2022. Continue →

A forklift brake failure which resulted in a broken back and punctured lung could have been avoided if the business had done a better job at keeping the vehicle maintained, WorkSafe says The $240,000 fine handed down to Refrigafreighters Limited for an incident in September 2022 is a wake-up call to all businesses using forklifts, says Casey Broad, WorkSafe’s National Manager Investigations. Continue →

An electrical worker has been prosecuted for failing to test prescribed electrical work he had completed that ultimately resulted in a fatality The electrical worker was prosecuted by WorkSafe – Energy Safety under s163C of the Electricity Act 1992 and sentenced in the Nelson District Court to eight months home detention and ordered to pay $150k in reparation. Continue →

Trade Depot has been ordered to pay out almost $500,000 after it was found no plan was in place to keep pedestrians and moving vehicles separate The customer was waiting to collect whiteware from the customer collections area outside Trade Depot in Onehunga, when she was struck by a forklift in August 2022. Continue →

After a New Zealand Police employee was critically injured in a high-speed collision, WorkSafe has accepted an enforceable undertaking which will see the organisation take steps to improve safety WorkSafe has accepted a binding commitment from the New Zealand Police to improve safety for Traffic Camera Operators (TCO), after one was critically injured in a high-speed collision on Auckland’s North Shore. Continue →

WorkSafe New Zealand is calling on the construction sector to “up its game” after a teenager was killed just four months into his apprenticeship Ethan Perham-Turner was killed when timber framing weighing 350 kilograms fell on him at a residential building site in Ōmokoroa in March 2022. Continue →

When there is no obvious safe way to work, it’s best to stop, reassess, and involve experts to develop a new approach – rather than attempting to adapt things on the fly, says WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Danielle Henry The death of a 21-year-old in the construction sector shows how easily stopgap measures can endanger workers. Continue →

Extremely poor on-site safety has been deemed the cause of an incident which nearly buried a worker alive, leaving him injured both physically and mentally Two workers were on a job at a farm near Te Kuiti in February 2021. Continue →

A workplace has been fined $7,000 after allowing an underage driver to get behind the wheel of an unsafe forklift whilst a young boy was left unsupervised When childcare fell through, the boy was taken to the orchard in January 2022 by his grandparents who worked there. Continue →

A worker suffered laceration to their palm and loss of two of fingertips as a result of inadequate training, WorkSafe has found, which has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with the worker’s employer WorkSafe New Zealand says an incident where a worker was seriously injured underlines the importance of training staff to keep them safe. Continue →

Businesses have an obligation to keep people safe around vehicles in the workplace, says WorkSafe New Zealand following the sentencing of a Southland business McLellan Freight Limited was contracted to load and unload palm kernel extract at a warehouse leased from South Port in Bluff. Continue →

An electric shock which cost an Auckland scaffolder both his arms could have been avoided if his employer had paid closer attention to who was authorised to do the work Jahden Nelson was dismantling scaffolding in April 2022, when a steel pole he was holding contacted an overhead powerline in the West Auckland suburb of Massey. Continue →

WorkSafe is warning businesses of the catastrophic consequences that can result from failing to undertake routine safety checks on trailers This follows the death of 52-year-old Julian Bruins Yates, whose van was struck when a trailer detached from a work vehicle in October 2020 on Weka Pass Road in Canterbury. Continue →

Dunlop Drymix Limited has been fined $297,000 for its health and safety shortfalls, notably its failure to have a working emergency stop switch for dangerous machinery WorkSafe New Zealand is again warning businesses to be on alert for the dangers of moving machinery, after a worker had his arm amputated on the job at a concrete manufacturer in Manawatū. Continue →

The death of an experienced skier has been put down to an operator’s risk assessment failures, serving as a reminder to all businesses to always fulfill their health and safety obligations, no matter a person’s experience 60-year-old Anita Graf-Russell died of blunt force trauma, after colliding with a wooden fence post at the bottom of Sugar’s Run in September 2019. Continue →

Two fatalities, a serious injury and three high risk incidents in just over a month highlight the health and safety mistakes still being made in workplaces Last month saw two worker deaths involving vehicles and two serious incidents involving dangerous gasses, while there was also a serious injury incident the previous month. Continue →

A teenage worker needed three fingers partly amputated when his summer holiday job went horribly wrong Matthew Nevill, who was 19 at the time, was trying to fix a chain on a conveyor belt at Clyde Orchards in February 2021, when his hands were drawn into the machine. Continue →

The importance of vehicle maintenance and driver training have been laid bare at the court sentencing for a deadly bus crash 11-year-old Hannah Francis was killed and several others seriously injured when the bus, owned and operated by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Limited (RAL), crashed while descending the Ohakune Mountain Road on 28 July 2018. Continue →