Company fined after 14-year-old burned on the job

Rotorua company Mobile Sandblasting Ltd has been fined $3000 and ordered to pay $7500 in reparation to a 14-year-old who suffered burns while working there.

The company was sentenced in Rotorua District Court last week after pleading guilty in November to a charge brought under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The sandblasting and spray painting business was charged with failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that no employee under 15 was performing a task likely to be harmful to his or her health.

On March 3 last year, the teenager was burnt on his face and arms after a container of universal thinner ignited and exploded, according to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH).

The teenager was instructed to clean underneath a 12-tonne digger using a rag and the thinner. He could not see what he was doing so used a cigarette lighter to illuminate the underside of the tail of the digger, which in turn ignited the rag. He threw the rag down but it landed on the bottle of cleaner.

He called for help and the manager of the business tried to kick the rag away from the teenager and the digger.

However, this caused the contents of the bottle to ignite and explode.

To escape, the teenager ran through the flames.

Occupational Safety and Health said universal thinner was a highly flammable substance and the teenager was not provided with any information about the substance or its safe handling. He was not given any protective gear, such as gloves and goggles, and was not supervised.

The teenager should not have been allowed to perform the task and the company did not have any health and safety systems in place for its employees, OSH said.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)