Company fined over zinc burn incident
A New Zealand production engineering firm has been fined $371,250 after one of its workers was burned by molten zinc.
Avon Industries Ltd was charged in the Whangarei District Court under sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
The company carries out work that includes hot dip galvanising at temperatures over 450°C. The court heard that in October 2016 a team of workers were re-galvanising chain when the bespoke machine they were using jammed. A worker climbed onto the frame of the machine, which was situated above a bath of molten zinc, to shake the chain free.
The worker’s left foot fell through a gap in the frame and went into the bath, resulting in molten zinc pouring into the worker’s boot. He sustained deep burns to his left foot and ankle and spent 21 days in hospital as a result of the incident.
The WorkSafe NZ investigation found that Avon Industries had not conducted a risk assessment on either the process or the machine. It found that the company did not have in place a safe system of work, or a formal training program for dealing with machine malfunctions — even though chain jams were a known issue.
“A positive safety culture is imperative in high-risk industries. It is not enough for a company to only identify a hazard — they need to manage that hazard appropriately,” said WorkSafe Deputy General Manager Investigations and Specialist Services Simon Humphries.
“This means preparing your staff for the work they are doing and monitoring their competence going forward. An ad hoc and informal approach to safety puts workers at risk. It is not enough to tell your staff that hot metal is dangerous and learning from the person before them is not enough to prevent a worker from harm.”
The importance of risk assessments and implementing appropriate controls — including training and monitoring workers to ensure they’re working safely — was a dominant message of the sentencing decision, which was released in March.
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