Man paralysed, company to pay

A man was left lying undiscovered for several hours after being hit by a harvester in a workplace accident that would leave him a tetraplegic.

The injured man now requires 24-hour care after the incident which has seen his company, and its director, fined for failing to make sure their employee was safe. In March last year, the man was working for Pukekohe company Wai Shing when he was struck on the back of his neck by a part of a harvester used to collect pumpkins and squash.

He lay undiscovered for several hours as he was unloading the machinery from a truck in a remote location.

On Monday, both his employer its director, Franklin Wai Shing, were ordered in the Pukekohe District Court to pay fines and reparations totalling $386,300.

WorkSafe criticised the com- pany for missing basic health and safety management practices in regards to the harvester, despite having used it since 1996.

‘‘The victim was inadequately trained in its use or transport and the company had no emergency plan to cover when a person is injured while working alone,’’ WorkSafe’s Brett Murray said.

Both the company and the director were charged under section six of the Health and Safety in Employment Act for failing to take all practicable steps to make sure employees were safe at work.

The company was also charged under sections 25 and 26 after it failed in its duty to notify WorkSafe after the incident, disturbed the incident scene and continued using the harvester that injured the worker.

It also failed to mention the incident two weeks later when WorkSafe inspectors visited on an unrelated matter.

WorkSafe was only alerted to the incident nearly six months later by the victim’s wife. Wai Shing Ltd was ordered to pay $336,300.