Affco has been ordered to pay almost $300,000 in fines and reparations after a worker at its Moerewa meatworks was left with serious burns over most of his body after he opened a boiler's door.
A man, in his 30s, was seriously injured at the Affco Moerewa site about 7pm on July 19, 2018. He received serious burns to most of his body, was in an induced coma for six weeks and spent a further two weeks in hospital.
The man, who has name suppression, has not worked since the accident and still needs further skin grafts and operations.
Affco pleaded guilty to one charge laid under the Health and Safety in Employment Act in a case brought by Worksafe and was sentenced in Whangārei District Court yesterday by Judge Duncan Harvey.
Judge Harvey fixed a starting point for reparation for the worker at $75,000 then gave a discount for the work Affco had done with the man since the accident - with CEO Nigel Stevens flying up to spend time with him in hospital the day after the accident; the company paying around $31,000 to help him and his family; and after a restorative justice meeting between the man and Stevens - reducing the final reparations to $65,000.