Company fined after worker crushed by 130kg of polystyrene

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

An insulation company has been fined $240,000 after a worker was crushed by a 130kg block of polystyrene.

Expol Ltd was sentenced in Auckland District Court last week following the 2016 incident where a worker was crushed by a large, high-density polystyrene block.

The worker was moving two five metre high, 130 kilogram polystyrene blocks onto a trolley when the trolley locking clamp prematurely released and one of the blocks fell on top of him, WorkSafe said.

He sustained severe crushing injuries including two spinal fractures, fractured ribs and a fractured ankle. 

The injuries were so severe he had to undergo three surgeries and it was six months before he could return to work.

WorkSafe's investigation found multiple failings at the company's site in Auckland's Onehunga.

WorkSafe said there was no effective risk assessment of the block moulding machine and lifting trolley, there were guarding issues with the block moulding machine and there was no safe system of work for the block moulding process.

The injury could have been avoided, WorkSafe's head of specialist interventions Simon Humphries said.

'Expecting workers to move large and heavy items without the right equipment or systems in place is not good health and safety management.

'Working with 130kg loads brings with it the risk of serious harm and those risks need to be managed.'

Following the incident Expol developed a new procedure for lifting blocks off the conveyer using a forklift, updated its standard operating procedure, up-skilled its workers and installed safety barriers.

'Expol were quickly able to take their workplace from one with a number of health and safety failings to one with a safe system of work for their workers. It should not take an incident like this for employers to pick up their game,' Humphries said.

Wayne Watson, Expol's technical manager, said the blocks workers were dealing with were around twice the height of a grown man.

While they were large, they weren't normally too heavy, he said.

The worker who was injured was now back working for the company.

The company was fined $240,000 and was ordered to pay reparations of $40,000.