$367,000 f ine for worker’s death

A fruit juice company whose employee died after she was dragged into machinery has been fined $367,500 and ordered to pay $141,000 to the victim’s widower.

Manpreet Kaur, 23, was cleaning machinery at the end of a night shift at The Homegrown Juice Company in Hastings on June 15, 2017, when a piece of her clothing caught on a travelling hook of a bottle-filling machine. She died of asphyxiation. The company was sentenced in Hastings District Court yesterday, having pleaded guilty last year to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. The charges related to failing to ensure the health and safety of staff, and failing to comply with duty that exposes an individual to risk of death or serious injury or serious illness.

Worksafe lawyer Sarah Backhouse told Judge Bridget Mackintosh the accident was foreseeable. The risks of the type of machinery were known to the industry and there was a failure to carry out a hazard assessment of the machine.

‘‘It meant the risks that were obvious were not managed properly,’’ Backhouse said. ‘‘This is simply unacceptable for an employer of 80 staff.’’

Backhouse said there were 12 doors surrounding the moving parts of the machinery. Had they been inter-locked it would have ensured that when a door was opened, as it was, the machine would have automatically switched off.

She said the company was more culpable because there was no formal standard operating procedure for the machine. A sign advising of the dangers that had been attached to the door had fallen off before the accident.

‘‘There was a hands-off approach’’ and workers were left to come up with their own processes, Backhouse said. ‘‘They are not health and safety experts’’ and it was for the company to ensure adequate safety, she said.

Homegrown Juice Company lawyer Lauren Castle acknowledged the suffering of Kaur’s widower, who was in court. Castle said the fact employees were not using the machinery correctly was not known to the supervisor or the company’s sole director, Stephen Brownlie. They believed staff knew the machine should be stopped for cleaning.

Judge Mackintosh noted the company failed to install an interlock as directed by Worksafe in 2016 but said this was not due to ‘‘belligerence’’. She said workers were exposed to hazards several times every day on the machine, and even the company accepted there should have been more controls and safety procedures, and the installation of safety guards on the machine.

She noted remedial measures had taken place since the accident and the machine was now considered safe to operate.

She said the company was highly culpable and imposed a fine of $367,500. She made an order for emotional harm reparation of $90,000 to be paid to the widower, as well as a further $51,000 for economic losses incurred to him.

‘‘The risks that were obvious were not managed properly.’’ Worksafe lawyer Sarah Backhouse