Company fined $350k over meat factory death

A man died at a Manawatū meat rendering factory after a piece of equipment was made unsafe due to extensive modifications.

A failure to assess the machine, install adequate guards and train and supervise staff led to Dwayne Michael Summers’ death.

The company he worked for, Kakariki Proteins, was fined $350,000 in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday.

The company was also ordered to pay $130,000 to Summers’ family in reparations on top of the $20,000 it had already paid to help with funeral and other expenses.

Summers died at Kakariki Proteins’ meat rendering factory, located between Feilding and Halcombe, on April 2, 2021.

His death came about while he was using a meal bagging machine, which Kakariki Proteins purchased in 2017.

It was modified in 2019 to enable it to be repurposed for bagging fish and poultry meal.

But those modifications made it unsafe, with workers regularly reaching into unguarded areas while it operated automatically.

Furthermore, workers were not given adequate training or supervision, while a health and safety consultant contracted by Kakariki Proteins was not an expert in machine guarding.

WorkSafe’s solicitor, Karina Sagaga, said the machine had clear crushing hazards created by the modifications but no appropriate guards.

Steps taken since, including installing a guard and getting a safety expert in, were simply adhering to health and safety compliance, she said.

She sought a $520,000 fine and $130,000 in reparations due to the high level of the breaches, which led to death.

Kakariki Proteins’ solicitor, Olivia Welsh, gave a formal apology on behalf of the company, saying it sincerely

regretted what occurred. While the company accepted it was at fault, the risk was not obvious due to the slow-moving nature of the machine and the lack of obvious things needing guards.

‘‘It’s a very simple machine. It’s essentially a metal-framed cube,’’ Welsh said.

‘‘We are not talking about a classic unguarded piece of machinery [like] an unguarded saw blade.’’

The company got expert advice when getting the machine designed, reasonably relying on them to create something safe.

There had been no prior incidents to put Kakariki Proteins on notice about any danger, Welsh said.

The company decommissioned the machine and built a new one in a different part of the plant after Summers’ death.

The fine should be in the region of $210,000 to take into account the company’s culpability, actions after Summers’ death and lack of previous convictions, Welsh said.

In victim impact statements read to the court, people described Summers as a caring person who was always there for others. He was also known as a great fisher and brilliant cook, but more so as the glue for his family.

Some people – those who gave victim impact statements were granted name suppression – said they would always miss him and were taking things a day at a time.

Judge David Smith said Summers’ ‘‘tragic death’’ caused grief and sorrow for his family.

‘‘There is nothing I can do to remove that sorrow.’’

There was no suggestion anyone at Kakariki Proteins set out to cause harm – doing so would have resulted in far more serious charges – but the company failed to keep Summers safe.

The fine and reparation was proportional to the harm caused, the judge said.

Outside of court, WorkSafe investigation manager Paul West said any business installing new equipment must identify risks.

‘‘It sounds simple but is so often missed,’’ West said.

‘‘You might have a machine that works perfectly well, but if you move or replicate it, ask yourself how the device is going to be used and if a hazard has been introduced.’’

It was also important to ensure any consultants were competent, he said.