New Zealand meat companies fined for worker’s fatal injury

A New Zealand court has ordered two companies to pay $340,000 following the death of a 74-year-old man who died while cleaning a machine.

The man had climbed into a bin lifter to clean it when he became trapped. He tried to operate its controls from inside but was unable to stop the machine.

The incident happened in December 2019.

WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Paul West said “Commercial cleaning is a high-pressure industry that works on tight timeframes. Safety must come ahead of whatever appears to be the quickest and easiest way to do the job.”

The company was also ordered to pay reparations of $105,000.

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