Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
10 October 2016
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$67,500 - $37,500 to be paid by the company and $12,500 to be paid by the director

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Ensure a mechanism is in place to control the rate of descent of the bin filler, such a mechanism could have included a winching cable and ratchet system or hydraulic cylinders;
  2. Ensure a reliable means is in place to secure the bin filler in the vertical position, this could have been achieved by using a locking pin arrangement;
  3. Develop, document, train employees in and supervise compliance with an adequate procedure for securing the harvester for transport, such a procedure should have clearly set out the roles and responsibilities of the employees involved and included a checklist (or similar) to ensure all the necessary steps to make the harvester safe had been taken;
  4. Implement a system to verify that all work vehicles used by employees during the day were returned to the main site by the end of the working day or that their absence was accounted for;
  5. To provide employees with appropriate personal protective equipment such as a hardhat when there is a hazard of falling objects.

Defendant name:
Wai Shing Limited and Franklin Wai Shing
 
Industry:
Agriculture
 
Date of offence:
10 October 2016
 
Facts in brief:
The victim was unloading a pumpkin harvester from the back of a flat deck truck. The victim loosened the chains securing the harvester to the truck and then undid the webbing strap over the bin filler. While rolling up the strap, the bin filler fell from a vertical to a horizontal position striking the victim on the back of the neck.

As a result, the victim suffered broken vertebrae of the neck, resulting in tetraplegia.

The Defendant failed to notify WorkSafe.
 
Offence section:
Sections 6 and 50(1)(a) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
Sections 26 and 50(1)(b) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
Sections 25(3)(a) and 50(1)(b) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
Sections 6, 56(1) and 50(1)(a) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Pukekohe - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$67,500 - $37,500 to be paid by the company and $12,500 to be paid by the director
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$336,300 ($110,000 for emotional harm and $226,300 ACC top up)
 
Related Documents:

Sentencing notes on District Courts website. 

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