Slaughter house crushing victim awarded $68,250

CMP Canterbury Limited (part of the ANZCO Group) has been fined $39,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $68,250 in addition to $12,000 previously paid by the company after a worker was crushed by the door of a stun box.

The company was sentenced today in the Ashburton District Court under the Health and Safety in Employment Act for failing to keep an employee safe at work.
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A WorkSafe investigation discovered failures by the company to identify appropriate safety controls for the door.​

On 3 June 2015, the victim was doing Halal slaughtering by cutting the throats of stunned cows when one fell in an unusual position with its head still under the stun box door. As another worker passed him a captive bolt gun to assist with the kill, the door was inadvertently activated and closed, crushing the victim.
He suffered two broken femurs, factures to the lower back and a stroke as a result of his injuries. He also suffered memory loss and has yet to return to work
“We found there were a number of easily achievable methods of making this door safe which would have ensured in this case that injury was averted,” says WorkSafe’s Chief Investigator Keith Stewart.
“We have a menu of easy to understand health and safety information and guidance available free from our website to help businesses keep their workers safe,” says Keith Stewart.
Notes:
The WorkSafe investigation found that:

• CMP should have installed a safety pin locking device or restraint system to stop the door from dropping while an employee was working under it.
• The manual control of the machine should have been a “hold to run” type so that it stopped immediately if hand pressure on the control button was released.
• To prevent inadvertent activation, the toggle switch of the machine should have been properly shrouded or a recessed push button control should have been used.
• The door should have been able to be stopped at any point and returned to a safe position.

Source: www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/news/releases/2016/slaughter-house-crushing-victim-awarded-68-250