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Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
1 November 2013
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$57,000

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Ensure that an interim control (such as chain and padlock) is used to prevent access through the gate until a permanent solution could be implemented.
  2. Ensure that the gate is isolated by the installation of an interlocked guard which means the gate can only open once the machine shuts down.

Defendant name:
Juken New Zealand Limited
 
Industry:
Manufacturing
 
Date of offence:
1 November 2013
 
Facts in brief:
The Defendant Company operates a forestry and timber processing facility.

On the day of the accident an employee was working with a wood dryer known as Bab-2 (“the machine”). The machine lies behind a gate that had an ordinary latch. It was not locked, not fixed, and it did not have any type of interlock device which would prevent the synchronised opening of the gate with the machine going. Every now and then the machine would jam and needed to be un-jammed.

On the day of the accident the victim did not follow the safety procedure when the jamming occurred. The victim unlatched the gate and went in behind it to the machine while it was still operating. In the process of unjamming the moving conveyor, the victim’s finger got caught between a chain and sprocket suffering serious harm.
 
Offence section:
S6 Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Masterton - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$57,000
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$12,000