Finger Crushing Incident
Event Title: Finger crushed whilst cleaner was removing labels from moving belt
Event date: 2nd April 2020
Event location: Apata
Event Description:
Removing stickers from running belt, cleaner got his fingers caught in between belt and end piece. Cleaner forgot where the Emergency Stop was. Stickers were being removed due to variety change of kiwifruit – gold to green. Labels must be removed so they do not get into the box. The belt was running at lowest speed, cleaner using chemical label remover to remove labels. This is a task that has been done many times before without incident and deemed standard practice. Due to COVID 19 staff have ended up on extended shifts to get packhouse up and running to new MPI standards for essential businesses.
Initial Actions Taken: Worksafe notified but was advised this is not a notifiable injury
Lessons and Recommendations:
• Do not clean moving machinery – always apply lock out procedure
• If you feel a task is unsafe – talk to your supervisor
• Work instruction to be developed around this task
• Reminder regarding fatigue and monitoring of hours
• Identification of Emergency Stops
For further information related to this incident please contact Kate Trufitt (kate.trufitt@apata.co.nz)
