Watties fined after accident

Press, 6 September 1989, Page 13

Watties fined after accident

PA Palmerston North Wattie Frozen Foods, Ltd, was fined $lOOO in the District Court at Feilding on Monday after a combine harvester driver died in an accident. Gregory Brian Manning, of Wellington, died when he became entangled in the brush rollers on the pea harvester while he was cleaning it about midnight on January 13.

The company faced three charges brought by the Palmerston North Labour Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Division.

The charges were: • Failing to prevent Mr Manning from working in a position where he would be likely to come in direct contact with moving machinery, when he was wearing a loose-fitt-ing rainwear garment. • Allowing Mr Manning to work at or with the machinery when he had not been fully instructed as to the dangers arising in connection with the

machinery and the precautions to be observed.

• Failing to prevent him from cleaning any part of the harvester when he would thereby be exposed to risk of injury from a moving part of the harvester.

The Crown prosecutor, Mr Grant Anson, said Mr Manning, who had worked the previous season at Wattie Frozen Foods, Ltd, started work in December 1988 with seven other pea combine harvester drivers.

Mr Richard Anderson a combine harvester driver, said Mr Manning was the only one of the group who had operated the harvesters before.

The first two days were spent giving instructions into how the machines operated and practice runs on fields.

Mr Anderson, who was working with Mr Manning on the night he died, said he was not shown how to clean the machine in the introductory session and he had been taught by Mr Manning.

An air hose and water

blaster were used to clean the harvester and it was not until after Mr Manning’s death that they were told to remove the panels surrounding the working parts when they cleaned them, he said. On the night Mr Manning died Mr Anderson cleaned his harvester and parked it in the next-door paddock. He went into the smoko truck to hand in his paper work and have something to eat, he told the Court. A short time later he went to help Mr Manning clean his machine and found him tangled in the harvester’s brushes.

The engine was then turned off and the hood on Mr Manning’s regulation raincoat had to be cut off before he could be freed.

Other witnesses, who had also attended the two instruction days in December said they could not recall being given specific instructions or demonstrations by training officers on how to clean the harvesters.

They said they re-

membered being warned about the dangers of wearing loose clothing around moving parts of the harvesters.

The night shift gang boss, Mr Richard Hills, said he and Mr Manning had put on their raincoats that night when they had to clear a blockage in the harvester. Mr Hills said he had taken off his coat after clearing the blockage but Mr Manning had kept his on.

He also said it was the first year such an extensive training session had been given to the harvester drivers before they started.

Mr Christopher Blain, a Palmerston North Labour Department factory inspector said he inspected the harvester the day after the accident and noticed the inside guard, by the brush rollers, had been partly cleaned. He said management told him there had been no need to clean the harvester’s front panels. Counsel for Wattie Fro-

zen Foods, Ltd, Mr Les Atkins, said that after the accident the company hired a psychologist and training consultant who spoke with staff and submitted a report to the company.

Staff were asked to provide suggestions to encourage safer work practices.

As a result two people must now be present when a harvester is being cleaned, a new type of torch and rainwear has been issued, and there is extra lighting on the paddocks at night. In his summary Judge Buckton said Mr Manning was a careful worker who took pride in his work.

He believed he had been given instructions about how to clean the machine and like many other drivers had cleaned it without taking off the side panels because they were awkward to remove and replace. Judge Buckton said the company must have known what was going on but did nothing to stop it.