The firm and its director were heavily fined yesterday after an incident left one employee paralysed.
A Pukekohe employer has been ordered to pay fines and reparations of more than $386,000 after a workplace accident left one member of staff severely disabled.
The unnamed employee involved in the accident was rendered a tetraplegic after he was struck on the back of the neck by part of a pumpkin and squash harvester.
At the time of the incident – which took place in March 2016 – the employee had been working in a remote location of a Karaka farm and lay undiscovered and unable to move for several hours.
Yesterday, horticultural company Wai Shing Ltd and its director Franklin Wai Shing were each charged in the Pukekohe District Court for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure staff safety.
“Wai Shing Ltd hadn’t followed basic health and safety management practices such as understanding and managing risks associated with using the harvester, despite using it since 1996,” said Brett Murray, WorkSafe’s general manager of operations and specialist services.
“In addition, the victim was inadequately trained in its use or transport and the company had no emergency plan to cover when a person is injured while working alone.”
The company was also charged with failing to notify WorkSafe after the incident, disturbing the incident scene and continuing to use the harvester that injured the worker.
The firm also failed to mention the incident two weeks later when WorkSafe inspectors visited on an unrelated matter – the safety regulator was only finally alerted to the incident six months later when the victim’s wife reached out.
Ultimately, Wai Shing Ltd was fined $37,500 while director Franklin Wai Shing was fined $12,500. Reparations of $336,300 were also ordered.
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