Employee Injured When Pinned Under Roller

25 November 2011

Employee Injured When Pinned Under Roller

Two companies from Taranaki have been fined a total of $71,500 after an employee suffered serious injuries when the hired machine he was operating rolled down a slope, pinning him underneath.

Taranaki Civil Construction Limited was fined $38,500 and ordered to pay $12,000 in reparation to its employee who suffered a compound fracture to his right arm and lacerations to his scalp and neck.

Graham Harris (2000) Limited, the company that hired out the roller, was fined $33,000 and ordered to pay $4,000 in reparation for failing to ensure the roller was safe to use.

The New Plymouth District Court heard that the company was working on a project in New Plymouth to improve flood defences in February this year. The employee was using a roller to compact clay at the top of the stop bank.

“The roller that the company hired was not fit for the operation – it did not have a roll over protective structure or a seat belt,” says the Department of Labour’s Taranaki Service Manager Jo Pugh.

“This type of machinery is not appropriate to use on top of a narrow stop bank of clay and it put this employee at serious risk of harm,” says Ms Pugh.

“This accident could have been prevented had some basic safety steps been followed, saving this employee from a number of operations that were required due to his injuries.”

Taranaki Civil Construction Limited was convicted on one charge under Section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 which states:

Every employer shall take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work; and in particular shall take all practicable steps to—

o (a) provide and maintain for employees a safe working environment; and

o (b) provide and maintain for employees while they are at work facilities for their safety and health; and

o (c) ensure that plant used by any employee at work is so arranged, designed, made, and maintained that it is safe for the employee to use; and

o (d) ensure that while at work employees are not exposed to hazards arising out of the arrangement, disposal, manipulation, organisation, processing, storage, transport, working, or use of things—
(i) in their place of work; or
(ii) near their place of work and under the employer's control; and

o (e) develop procedures for dealing with emergencies that may arise while employees are at work.

Graham Harris (2000) Limited was convicted on one charged under Section 18A of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 which states:

A person who hires, leases, or loans to another person plant that can be used in a place of work must—

o (a) ascertain from the other person (so far as is practicable) before hiring, leasing, or loaning the plant—
(i) whether the plant is to be used in a place of work; and
(ii) if so, the intended use of the plant; and

o (b) if he or she ascertains that it is to be used in a place of work, take all practicable steps to ensure that the plant is designed and made, and has been maintained, so that it is safe for its intended use.

The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is available online: http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0096/latest/DLM278829.html

ENDS

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