The tortilla oven that crushed and burned a worker’s hand and arm in November 2016 had multiple sources of risk, says WorkSafe.
Miller Foods Limited trading as Remarkable Tortillas was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court today following an incident that left a worker’s arm trapped in an oven that was aflame.
Factory worker Daniel Figueroa (then 19) was cooking tortillas in a commercial tortilla press and oven in November 2016 when his glove became caught and his right hand and arm were drawn into the oven.
His arm was mangled. He had two operations in Dunedin Hospital in five days to treat a broken wrist and arm, burns and a "huge'' hole in his elbow.
The company must pay more than $52,000 to Mr Figueroa, consisting of $45,000 in reparation, $6741 for a shortfall in ACC payments and $541 for physiotherapy fees.
Although a fine was quantified at $337,500, the company is not required to pay it, with Judge Brandts-Giesen suppressing the reasons for that decision.
Worksafe said other workers freed the man’s arm, but were not immediately aware of what to do in an emergency.
WorkSafe’s investigation found that Remarkable Tortillas had inadequate health and safety systems, failed to ensure a risk assessment of the machinery was carried out, failed to provide suitable guarding, and failed to ensure that workers were adequately trained and were aware of an appropriate emergency system.
"This was a piece of machinery loaded with risks." says WorkSafe Deputy General Manager, Investigations and Specialist Services, Simon Humphries.
"The gas burners, the moving conveyor belt and the inadequate machine guarding all contributed to an incident that was entirely avoidable. Tortillas getting jammed was a known issue but there was no safe system in place for managing the problem".
Following prohibition and improvement notices from WorkSafe, Remarkable Tortillas have since installed an interlocking guard.
