A Bay of Plenty sawmill has been ordered to pay nearly $30,000 after a worker was seriously hurt when trapped on a conveyor belt.
Sequal Lumber Limited was fined $20,000 and ordered to pay the man $8000 in reparations in the Whakatane District Court today after it was found to have breached health and safety standards.
The worker was shovelling bark onto a conveyor belt at the mill in Kawerau last September when he dropped his shovel, tripped over it and onto the conveyor belt.
The man trapped his right arm between the conveyor belt and its pulley.
His colleague stopped the conveyor belt by pressing an emergency button which was 10m from where the pair worked.
The man suffered multiple fractures, including a fractured right arm, several broken ribs and cuts.
"The accident could have been prevented had Sequal Lumber Limited put in place adequate machine guarding," said Ona De Rooy, central region health and safety manager for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
NZN