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$140,000 penalties for Health & Safety breach
A company ordered to pay $93,000 in reparation and a $49,000 fine after an employee was killed at work when some panels fell on him. The company had carried out a health and safety assessment of the process involved but had failed to identify the risk from the panels falling and had failed to plan for a safe way for the panels to be dealt with that did not involve the employee standing in the fall zone. The Court observed that but for the company’s prior exemplary record and early guilty plea the fine would have been $95,000 ($188,000 including the reparation).
Could you live with yourself if your poor health and safety processes resulted in one of your employees being killed?
Could your business recover from paying $140,000 in penalties?
Make sure you identify the hazards in your workplace and then eliminate those hazards for the safety of all concerned.
Alan Knowsley
Health & Safety Lawyer
Wellington