A Timaru engineering firm has pleaded guilty to a health and safety charge, laid by WorkSafe, after a worker suffered a crush injury which led to the amputation of parts of three fingers.
Thompson Engineering Ltd’s guilty plea, in the Timaru District Court on Tuesday, was that the company had failed to comply with a duty to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety while the worker was at work.
The victim, who was flown by helicopter to Christchurch Hospital, described his injuries as “first finger split the whole length, middle finger gone to the second knuckle. My ring finger gone between my first knuckle and second knuckle, and my little finger lost the tip”.
The summary of facts shows the maximum fine for a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act is a $1.5 million fine.
The victim, who had been with the company since October 2020, was operating a punch and shear machine at Washdyke, Timaru, on January 24, 2022. The machine was not the one normally used for the process as it was out of service for repairs.
A “press jig” was taken from the out of service machine and attached to another and there was no validation that it was safe to be used with the other machine.
The summary says the victim had not attached the press jig to this machine previously, nor had he manufactured purlin brackets using it. The press action of the substitute machine was faster and the foot pedal was different, being able to be moved.
“The victim had completed approximately 18 of the required 20 brackets, or ‘wiggle’, when he inserted an unpressed bracket between the two plates of the press jig,’’ the summary says.
“The victim pressed the foot pedal when his hand was between the two plates of the jig, and the top plate came down crushing his hand.”
Part of WorkSafe’s investigation discovered there was no guarding in place to prevent a worker placing their hand between the plates of the press jig when it was attached to the machine responsible.
The summary says inspections and safety audits were carried out regularly by the company, including within the workshop.
“These inspections were documented but did not identify the risks of using the punch and shear machines with the jig attachments exposed workers to a crush hazard.”
While the functions of the two machines were similar, their precise operation was described by workers, including a foreman, as being different.
“The victim described being able to ‘grab the wiggle before the press is fully open – I do this to make the process faster’.
“He acknowledged that ‘I am not under any pressure from work to get it done faster, it is just something I do’.
“The victim described being ‘in the groove, and for some reason I didn’t take my hand away before I pushed the pedal’.”
The summary says Thompson Engineering had “failed to identify any engineering controls for when the press jigs were used with the punch and shear machines”.
In explaining the absence of controls, the company said “I guess it’s historic, they’ve been doing it probably before those machines came into the company” and that “it would have been oversight … it’s an attachment that’s been used for a real long time”.
The company also said “because the process is to put it [the bracket] in there, take your hands away and push the pedal, no one actually visualised it, that, accidentally, you could leave your hand there and squash it, so that’s just been missed”.
The company also stated “that particular press mechanism has never been, I guess, reviewed in its entirety going forward. So what it shows is that we have a hazard that we didn’t pick up on”.
Judge Dominic Dravitzki remanded the company to March 14, 2024, for sentencing.
WorkSafe, through its lawyer Angus Everitt, who appeared via an audiovisual link, requested two hours for sentencing, which he said would include victim impact statements.
The company had first appeared on November 7, pleading not guilty.
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