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Company fined $210,000 after worker's hand gets stuck in a sausage casing machine

August 15, 2019
sausages at a farmers market

A Hawke's Bay sausage casing manufacturer has been fined over $200,000 after a worker was seriously injured when their hand became stuck in machinery. 

NZCC Limited was sentenced at the Hastings District Court yesterday after the July 2017 incident where the worker’s left hand was stuck in a sausage casing machine for 20 minutes.

The worker’s hand was trapped between two rollers while they were operating the sausage casing machine. They suffered a broken wrist and de-gloving of the back of their hand, which required skin grafts.

NZCC limited is a company that processes and supplies sausage casings.

NZCC was fined $210,000 for the incident and was ordered to pay reparation of $28,000 to the victim.

A WorkSafe New Zealand investigation found that a similar incident happened on a sausage casing machine two years earlier.

NZCC Limited was working with an engineer, who had no knowledge of relevant machinery safety standards and continued to use the machine despite it being in an unsafe state.

WorkSafe’s Chief Inspector Hayden Mander said “NZCC Limited should have sought help from a machinery expert with proper knowledge. The company’s failure to address a known safety issue has left the workers with significant and completely unnecessary injuries.”

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