Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
20 March 2015
 
Plea:
Not Guilty
 
Decision:
Withdrawn
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
Not applicable.

Safety lessons learned:

Not applicable.

Defendant name:
2016-C
 
Industry:
Manufacturing
 
Date of offence:
20 March 2015
 
Facts in brief:
The Defendant is the director of a company which specialised in chrome plating and had premises in the central business district of Timaru.

The premises contained a variety of solid, semi-solid and liquid substances which were used in the electroplating process. The substances were stored in various types of containers.

In February 2015, there was a fire at the premises. WorkSafe was notified of the incident and inspectors visited the site on several occasions thereafter.

The integrity of some of the containers was found to be poor as some containers were found to be leaking. In particular, an alkali substance, which was tested and identified as cyanide, had leaked from the bottom of a plastic drum in close proximity to a strongly acidic substance which had also been leaking.

There was a potential harm to employees as there was a likelihood of exposure to highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas which would have been produced if a cyanide compound contacted an acid solution.
 
Related prosecutions:
 
Offence section:
Sections 6 and 50(1)(a) and 56 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Timaru - District Court
 
Plea:
Not Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Withdrawn
 
Fine imposed:
Not applicable.
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
Not applicable.
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Subscribe