Wellington biscuit maker fined for mutilating injury
An employee of Rutherford & Meyer was badly burned by a biscuit oven.
A gourmet biscuit and condiment manufacturer has been fined $12,500 and ordered to pay an employee $45,000 after she badly burned by a biscuit oven.
The female worker at Meycov Food, trading as Rutherford & Meyer, was cleaning a machine while it was cooling down when her overalls got caught, causing her arm to be trapped in it for 40 minutes.
The machine reaches minimum temperatures of 85 degrees Celsius to a maximum of 180 degrees Celsius. As a result the employee sustained severe burns, significant skin loss and subsequent muscle loss.
The Lower-Hutt based company was sentenced in the Wellington District Court for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of an employee.
The judge referred to this case as “bad offending” that resulted in a “mutilating injury.”
An ambulance was only called after 20 minutes and several unsuccessful attempts to remove her arm. She also remained without pain relief for 40 minutes as the ambulance got lost on its way to the address.
The company could have been fined $70,000 but due to its poor financial position and the fact that it has only 20 employees, the court made the decision to reduce the fine to $12,500.
The victim has substantial skin-loss to her right forearm and burns to the underlying tissue. She has had three surgeries to remove dead tissue and muscle, as well as major skin-grafting work. She has had further surgeries scheduled to transplant muscle to strength her arm.
A WorkSafe investigation discovered there were no written procedures for cleaning the machine and that the guards on the machine were left open during production and cleaning.
WorkSafe chief inspector Keith Stewart says the standard guard that came with the machine was removed in order to enable easier cleaning.
“Had the guard been in place, then the victim’s hand would not have been caught and ultimately burnt. Any cleaning should have been done with the baking plate cool and the machine locked out,” he says.
Campbell Gibson
Thu, 13 Nov 2014
Thu, 13 Nov 2014
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Wellington biscuit maker fined for mutilating injury
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