Wattie's boilover had happened in Hastings before

Heinz Watties plant in Hastings. Photo / File

A union representing some staff at the Hastings plant of food processor Heinz Wattie's is still working through safety issues identified after incidents such as that which led to the company being hit with a fine and reparations totalling more than $330,000.

A woman, who was employed by labour provider Allied Workforce, was badly burned when her gumboots started to fill with overflowing boiling brine in May 2017.

It wasn't the first incident of its type, and in Hastings District Court on Wednesday, having admitted a charge of failing to ensure the safety of the worker while on the site, Heinz Wattie's was fined $281,250 and ordered to pay the woman reparations of $50,000.

Mike Pretty, Wattie's managing director said the company was "clearly upset" about the incident and had taken steps to ensure something like this "does not happen again".

"We continually review and update safety measures where appropriate. In this case, the worker has had an amazing and resilient attitude for which she is to be commended," Pretty said.

E tu! union organiser Thomas O'Neill, who was familiar with the case but not directly involved as the woman was not a member of his union at the time, said the union had been "working very hard" with Heinz Wattie's over some years around health and safety issues after a "spate of cost-cutting."

A WorkSafe summary said the mishap two years ago happened as the woman tried to turn a machine off at a wall switch near the vat. Boiling brine overflowed from the vat and entered her gumboots, causing severe burns.

WorkSafe's inquiry revealed Heinz Wattie's was aware the vats were likely to boil over if left unattended, and that it was capable of causing serious injury.

The vats had boiled over on numerous occasions previously, resulting in burns to another worker on one occasion, the summary said.

The investigation also found the liquid entered the worker's boots because the worker was not provided with adequate personal protective equipment, and the worker had not been given proper supervision or training.

WorkSafe head of specialist interventions Simon Humphries said the company should have known better.

"These vats had reached boiling point on many occasions, putting workers at risk of serious harm," he said.

"Our investigation found workers were simply told to avoid vats when they boiled over. Heinz Wattie's should have had effective controls in place to eliminate the known risk to its workers."

He said that if companies became aware of a safety problem they were required to fix.
"They didn't," he said, "and that is simply not acceptable."