Meat processing firm Affco has been ordered to pay nearly $300,000 after a worker at a Northland plant suffered severe burns to 75 per cent of his body when a furnace blasted heat and flames back into him.
Affco New Zealand Limited has now been fined $230,000 and ordered to pay another $65,000 to the worker after the "life-changing and painful injuries" in July 2018 .
WorkSafe says the Moerewa worker was tending to the furnace of a boiler and had opened the boiler door, when a build-up of coal combusted, sending intense heat and flames into the room.
The man was severely burned and needed to be put in an induced coma for five weeks as he recovered.
He also underwent multiple surgeries and skin grafts.
WorkSafe says he hasn't been able to return to work after the injury, with acting chief inspector Danielle Henry saying an investigation found there wasn't an effective system for supervising workers using the boiler.
It wasn't the first time there had been an incident of this nature, involving excess coal build-up, Ms Henry says.
"The business should have had systems in place to ensure workers were aware of the risk and had safe ways of rectifying the situation," she says.
"All businesses, not just Affco, must consider how they can design safe work processes to ensure these incidents don’t occur. This includes ensuring that workers have the knowledge, experience and equipment to do their job safely."
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