SDHB in court over accident
THE Southern District Health Board has been hauled before the court after a man’s arm was almost severed while decommissioning an Xray machine.
The DHB, along with subcontractor Fire & Mech Contracting Ltd (FMCL), had previously pleaded guilty to two charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act, each carrying a maximum fine of $1.5 million.
On May 24, 2017, the victim — a registered builder with name suppression — arrived at Dunedin Hospital having been tasked with the removal and demolition of a 30yearold Xray machine, which had spent the past decade there.
He had contracted FMCL to assist.
While the company had done a risk assessment, it was scant, and the Dunedin District Court yesterday heard the SDHB had not
handed over the machine manufacturer’s manual, which was imperative to understand the hazards involved.
The victim, whose statement was read by his tearful wife, recounted climbing a ladder and being instructed by his FMCL colleague to cut a cable.
‘‘I still vividly recall the sound of the springloaded plates hit ting my arm with a boom,’’ he said.
What followed was an excruciating 20minute wait with his arm trapped inside the machine as firefighters fought to free him.
He broke both bones in his forearm and suffered nerve, tendon and muscle damage.
Surgeons battled for five hours to save the victim’s arm; he spent four days in the same building in which the accident happened.
His limb was saved, but this was not his final trip to hospital.
An infection had him admitted again, and a graft had to be taken from his hip.
A third surgery locked the builder’s thumb in a ‘‘usable’’ position, but he said the pain and flashbacks continued to cause him sleepless nights.
The victim said he had had to employ someone to do his job and had been forced into an administrative role.
‘‘I’ve effectively become an overhead of the business,’’ the victim said. ‘‘I feel like a burden to my family.’’ He said the things he had loved to do — hunting, fishing and boating — had been put on hold, and he forced back tears as his wife spoke of fears he would never be able to do them with his grandchildren.
The defendants had each paid him $25,000 since the incident, WorkSafe prosecutor Natasha Self confirmed.
‘‘This was a failure from the very outset,’’ she said.
Had SDHB provided a copy of the manual to those working on the machine, the risks would have been clear, Ms Self said.
‘‘To a qualified engineer, springs are synonymous [with] ‘danger’,’’ Worksafe’s engineering expert JD Mains said in his written analysis.
Defence counsel Paul White said the SDHB was ‘‘deeply remorseful’’ over its shortcomings and the severe consequences that resulted.
He told the court the incident had sparked a healthandsafety overhaul.
Staff had been sent for training in risk assessment and hazard identification, and a new steering group had been established on the issue.
FMCL’s lawyer, Hamish Evans, said the firm had also ‘‘changed their entire approach’’ and now employed a fulltime healthandsafety officer.
He suggested a starting point for a fine should be $435,000, while Mr White for the DHB argued for an arbitrary $75,000 (because it was a government entity).
Court documents noted SDHB had received written warnings for workplacesafety incidents in 2011 and 2016.
Judge Crosbie reserved his decision and expected to release it within a month.