WorkSafe NZ - Latest News [Page 2]
Child Struck By Teen Forklift Driver
Friday, 15 December 2023, 9:47 am | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe is cautioning that worksites are not the place for childcare, in response to the case of a five-year-old being run over in a forklift incident at a Hawke’s Bay orchard. When childcare fell through, the boy was taken to the orchard in January ... More >>
Falling Beam Crushed Worker
Tuesday, 12 December 2023, 1:41 pm | WorkSafe NZ
The death of a 21-year-old in the construction sector shows how easily stopgap measures can endanger workers, WorkSafe New Zealand says. Aidan Paszczuk was removing steel beams when one fell and killed him at a Newmarket construction site in October 2021. ... More >>
Hand Injury Again Highlights Need To Train Staff To Keep Them Safe
Friday, 24 November 2023, 3:05 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand says an incident where a worker was seriously injured underlines the importance of training staff to keep them safe. On 15 November 2021 a staff member with the Auckland International Airport Limited (AIAL) wildlife team was monitoring ... More >>
Asbestos Prosecutions Highlight Room To Improve
Wednesday, 22 November 2023, 11:55 am | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand says two recent court cases show Aotearoa still has a long way to get asbestos management right. Asbestos remains the country’s number one work-related killer, with about 220 people dying each year from preventable asbestos-related ... More >>
Truck Driver Death Due To Poor Traffic Management
Thursday, 16 November 2023, 1:40 pm | WorkSafe NZ
Businesses need to keep their workers safe around vehicles and doing so can save lives, says WorkSafe New Zealand following the sentencing of a Southland business today. McLellan Freight Limited was contracted to load and unload palm kernel extract ... More >>
Worker’s Electric Shock Was Preventable
Monday, 13 November 2023, 5:52 pm | WorkSafe NZ
13 November 2023 An electric shock which cost an Auckland scaffolder both his arms could have been avoided if his employer had paid closer attention to who was authorised to do the work. Jahden Nelson was dismantling scaffolding in April 2022, when a steel ... More >>
Unsafe Machine Cost Worker His Arm
Thursday, 19 October 2023, 3:58 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand is again warning businesses to be on alert for the dangers of moving machinery, after a worker had his arm amputated on the job at a concrete manufacturer in Manawatū. The victim was working at Dunlop Drymix Limited in Feilding ... More >>
Runaway Trailer Involved In Road Fatality
Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 11:01 am | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe is warning businesses of the catastrophic consequences that can result from failing to undertake routine safety checks on trailers. This follows the death of 52-year-old Julian Bruins Yates, whose van was struck when a trailer detached ... More >>
New Chief Executive For WorkSafe
Wednesday, 4 October 2023, 4:09 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand Board Chair Jennifer Kerr has announced the appointment of Steve Haszard as the organisation’s next Chief Executive. Mr Haszard will start with WorkSafe on Monday October 9 for a term of up to 18 months. “Following the ... More >>
Back-breaking Demolition Case A Credit To Victim’s Tenacity
Monday, 25 September 2023, 7:55 pm | WorkSafe NZ
The need to protect workers, and to be clear about health and safety practices on work sites, are lessons from a botched demolition that severely injured a labour hire worker in Auckland two years ago. The worker, Mosese Foketi, was employed to ... More >>
WorkSafe Chief Executive Standing Down
Thursday, 21 September 2023, 2:19 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand Board Chair Jennifer Kerr has today announced the resignation of Chief Executive Phil Parkes. “Phil has been a strong voice for the need to collectively prioritise health and safety,” says Ms Kerr. “It has been clear to me in interactions ... More >>
Preventable Injury Puts Seasonal Worker Safety In Focus
Monday, 4 September 2023, 1:22 pm | WorkSafe NZ
A teenage worker needed three fingers partly amputated when his summer holiday job went horribly wrong in a workplace incident with a leading stone fruit producer in Central Otago. Matthew Nevill, who was 19 at the time, was trying to fix a chain ... More >>
Fatal Ruapehu Bus Crash Was Avoidable
Wednesday, 23 August 2023, 6:21 pm | WorkSafe NZ
The importance of vehicle maintenance and driver training have been laid bare at the court sentencing for a deadly bus crash half a decade ago at Mt Ruapehu. 11-year-old Hannah Francis was killed and several others seriously injured when the bus, owned ... More >>
Sand Boarding Death Puts Sad New Perspective On Customer Care
Tuesday, 22 August 2023, 3:23 pm | WorkSafe NZ
The health and safety of customers must be a priority for businesses, WorkSafe New Zealand says, in light of an horrific sand boarding incident which killed a tourist on a family holiday in the Far North. Jin Chang Oh was boarding the giant sand dunes ... More >>
Workplace Explosion Was No Joke – A Warning To All
Wednesday, 16 August 2023, 1:16 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand is urging workplace pranksters to keep health and safety top of mind, following an explosion that badly burned five workers in central Auckland. In August last year, a barbeque gas bottle was mistakenly left running overnight ... More >>
Strong Sentences A Warning – Prevent Harm, Don’t Cover It Up
Friday, 28 July 2023, 7:06 pm | WorkSafe NZ
Two men sentenced to jail for covering up poor health and safety practices show businesses can’t get away with poor practice. The New Zealand Police charged William Mansfield Trevor Sullivan for making a false statement and Steven Patrick John Sullivan ... More >>
Whakaari Helicopter Operators Plead Guilty
Friday, 7 July 2023, 3:10 pm | WorkSafe NZ
Three helicopter tour operators, charged by WorkSafe New Zealand for health and safety failings related to Whakaari, have pleaded guilty to amended charges today. WorkSafe charged Volcanic Air Safaris Limited, Kahu NZ Limited and Aerius Limited ... More >>
Meatworks Death Brings Consequences For AFFCO
Friday, 23 June 2023, 2:46 pm | WorkSafe NZ
Poor risk management and a lack of worker engagement have been identified as factors in the death of an East Coast freezing worker, who was crushed by a falling steel frame full of offal cartons. Alfred Edwards was attempting to free a jammed carton ... More >>
Significant Guilty Pleas In Whakaari Case
Thursday, 15 June 2023, 12:22 pm | WorkSafe NZ
WorkSafe New Zealand welcomes the guilty pleas from White Island Tours Limited today to charges laid under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, related to their tour operations at Whakaari. “The significance of these pleas can’t be understated. ... More >>
Trapped Arm A Sombre Warning On Imported Machinery
Tuesday, 23 May 2023, 9:34 am | WorkSafe NZ
A multinational company has been sentenced after a worker’s arm got caught in a bark-stripping machine which did not have the appropriate safeguards for New Zealand use. CFGC Forest Managers (NZ) Limited (CFGC) is a forest management and export company. ... More >>