Affco Wairoa death: Worker crushed when steel frame of cartons fell on him in freezer, court hears

The Affco plant beside the Wairoa River. Photo / NZME

A judge is yet to decide how much meat processing company Affco should be fined for the death of a worker who was crushed when a steel frame full of cartons fell on him in a blast freezer.

Alfred William Pohatu Edwards, known to most as Baldy, was 61 when he died on February 5, 2020 at the company’s Wairoa processing plant, where he had worked for many years.

WorkSafe investigated and the company subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 of failing to ensure its workers weren’t exposed to the risk of death or serious injury in the particular freezer. The offence carries a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.

The company has since paid Edwards’ family an agreed reparation amount of $130,000 and about $84,500 for consequential loss but was due to be sentenced on Friday in Gisborne District Court for causing his death.

Judge Warren Cathcart reserved his decision until June 23, saying he needed longer to consider the company’s culpability, which he initially considered to be higher than that suggested by either counsel for WorkSafe or the company.

He was concerned the company might have been deliberately putting workers at risk for years by its use of the freezer, which dated back to the 1970s and was only deployed at the height of the season.

While the summary of facts was not traversed at Friday’s hearing, what happened to cause Edwards’ death was apparent from discussions about the culpability issue.

Cartons of meat were sent into the old freezer through a tunnel but occasionally became stuck. Because there was no mechanical means by which to free them as there is in modern freezers, the cartons had to be jemmied free by a worker.

Edwards was in the freezer for that purpose when a steel frame full of suspended cartons suddenly fell on top of him.

WorkSafe prosecutor Alexandra Simpson said the company’s culpability was high but at the lower end of that range. She submitted the starting point for the fine should be somewhere in the range of $650,000 to $700,000.

The company had failed to assess the particular risk associated with the freezer that led to Mr Edwards’ death so did not adequately manage it.

Counsel for the company Tim Clarke accepted WorkSafe’s assessment of the level of culpability, albeit he put it slightly lower suggesting a starting point for the fine of $600,000.

Clarke said the company had decided that the best way to rectify the risk associated with the freezer, which it now recognised, was to prevent access to it by decommissioning it. A modern replacement and the engine room required to drive it had come at a significant cost to the business of at least $25 million.

Judge Cathcart challenged Clarke as to how aware the company was of the risk and why it had not taken the step to decommission the freezer years ago if that was the only way to ensure workers were safe.

“And if it should have been decommissioned years ago then this is a death that could have been and should have been avoided”, the judge said.

Clarke said the company hadn’t previously gone far enough in its risk assessment of the freezer and didn’t realise the risk of suspended cartons falling at the rear of the machine.

Sixteen of Edwards’ whanau were in court for the hearing and some read victim impact statements. However, the content of those statements was suppressed at the family’s request.

Three representatives from the company were also present in court.

According to earlier media articles, Edwards had worked on and off at the plant for more than 40 years, was a proud unionist, a staunch local ruby club member, and a strict follower of tikanga Māori. He and his wife Teena - a fellow meat worker and unionist - raised five children and two whangai children. His tangi was attended by people came from all over the country and from Australia.