Summer is a busy time on the farm, but it’s also among the most hazardous periods for accidents with three fatalities and nearly 550 farmers suffering notable injuries last summer Almost 550 farmers suffered injuries serious enough for them to take at least a week off work over the last summer (December 2017 – February 2018) while there were three fatalities on farms. Continue →

WorkSafe has accepted an enforceable undertaking from engineering and infrastructure company Opus International Consultants Limited following a scaffolding collapse last year The enforceable undertaking was granted following an incident in February 2017, when scaffolding collapsed underneath Auckland’s Panmure Bridge and six workers fell into the water below them. Continue →

Identifying a workplace risk but not following up to ensure it is controlled is bad health and safety business practice according to WorkSafe The comment follows the sentencing of Agility Building Solutions Limited in the Christchurch District Court after a painter was injured in the construction company’s own workplace. Continue →

New Zealand has clearly defined standards for how machinery should be guarded, and WorkSafe says they’re still not being met by too many companies “Too many workers are being seriously injured as a result of substandard guarding,” says WorkSafe’s Head of Specialist Interventions Simon Humphries. Continue →

Unqualified and unsafe asbestos removal has landed a Christchurch builder in the Christchurch District Court Richard John Knight was unlicensed for an asbestos demolition job carried out on a Riccarton building in February 2017. Continue →

Tractors are an integral part of farm businesses, but they have also killed 30 New Zealanders in the last six years WorkSafe is warning farmers that they are legally required to have an effective way of identifying and managing the risks involved in their work on farms – including the risks involved in the use of vehicles. Continue →

The construction industry must take heed of an unexpected spike in serious injuries, says Site Safe Chief Executive Brett Murray Figures released by Statistics NZ revealed there were 72 serious work-related injuries in construction last year, up from just 45 in 2016. Continue →

Rotorua-based logging operator Cropp Logging has been sentenced in the Tauranga District Court after an incident where a worker was struck by a tumbling log The worker was on his first day on a forestry site in Rangiuru working as head breaker-out when the incident occurred in March 2017. Continue →

A worker had to have his eye removed after an incident involving a corrosive cleaning product at a Tauranga mussel processing plant North Island Mussels Limited was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court following the January 2017 incident which left their worker with life-changing injuries. Continue →

Automated gates pose serious health and safety risks – especially those not fitted with safety devices to guard against injury as the gate opens and closes WorkSafe has issued an automated gate safety alert following a serious incident in which a child was injured by a set of automated gates. Continue →

Does your office culture ensure electrical safety from hazards that expose workers to shocks, fires, and burns caused by faulty electrical wiring, unsafe installations, frayed cords, substandard power trips, and defective equipment? Continue →

WorkSafe has accepted an enforceable undertaking from glass supply and glazing company Woods Glass (New Zealand) Limited The acceptance follows an incident in January 2017 when a worker’s leg was crushed in machinery The worker was injured when the glass cutting machine he was working with jammed. Continue →

A young boy’s lucky escape after he fell from a quad bike and was run over by the equipment being towed behind it serves as a timely reminder for farmers and families to ensure they are keeping kids off adult-sized quad bikes, as riders or passengers WorkSafe says Small farming company Greystone Holdings Limited was sentenced in Wellington District Court after an incident that occurred in July 2016, when a six-year-old was visiting the 60-acre farm owned by his grandparents during school holidays. Continue →

The tortilla oven that crushed and burned a worker’s hand and arm in November 2016 had multiple sources of risk, WorkSafe found The worker was cooking tortillas in a commercial tortilla press and oven when a Miller Foods Limited, trading as Remarkable Tortillas, was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court following an incident that left a worker’s arm trapped in an oven that was aflame. Continue →

Research by WorkSafe New Zealand shows there is almost always a vehicle involved when someone dies as a result of a farm workplace accident. Continue →