Company fined for meatworks accident

An Auckland company has been fined $44,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $9000 for its role in an accident in which a meat worker broke a leg.

Realcold Milmech Limited, a meat processing systems manufacturer, pleaded guilty at Tauranga District Court to a charge of failing to ensure the safety of equipment it had installed at Affco's Rangiuru meatworks, near Te Puke.

Department of Labour regional manager Ona De Rooy said the case showed manufacturers could not install their equipment and walk away without checking for safety.

"It [Realcold Milmech] didn't do a risk assessment after installing the equipment or ensure the equipment couldn't operate when people needed to access danger areas for maintenance and cleaning," Mr De Rooy said.

"In addition to this, there were no guards in place preventing access when the equipment was operating and the equipment didn't have automatic locking devices."

Appropriate guarding of machinery had been law for more than a century "but people still ignore it or forget about it", he said.

- NZPA