SunLive – Fertilizer manufacturer convicted over worker’s death

A fertiliser company has been convicted in court after a worker died after being crushed in a conveyor belt accident in Mount Maunganui.

The company had conflicting safety information and had previously been informed of the risk of “non-compliant guards” and the risk of “entanglement” associated with the harness system, court documents show.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited has pleaded guilty in the Tauranga District Court to failing to ensure, as far as was reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and thereby exposing them to the risk of death or serious injury from moving conveyor belts.

WorkSafe New Zealand brought charges under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2015 after a worker, who cannot be named, died at the company's Mount Maunganui factory on July 27 last year.

The company produces superphosphate fertiliser – the most widely used fertiliser in New Zealand agriculture – at its plant on Hewletts Road next to the Port of Tauranga.

The maximum penalty for this charge is $1.5 million.

Brett Harris, a lawyer for Ballance Agri-Nurients, told Judge Bill Lawson in court on Friday that the company and the victim's family were willing to attend a reparation meeting.

A hopper called a Johnson mounted on the tracks that run parallel to the conveyor system in the factory. Photo / WorkSafe NZ.

Judge Lawson found against the company and referred the case back to the Commission for remedial action, where a report on remedial action and judgment is due to be published on December 17.

Lawyer Genevieve Denize, representing the victim's family, was successful in obtaining a temporary hardship removal of his name and place of residence without opposition from WorkSafe.

WorkSafe's summary of the facts sent to the Bay of Plenty Times showed that the fatal accident involved a horizontal conveyor system used to transport the fertilizer product through the production line.

The summary states that six 600mm wide conveyor belts ran parallel to two sets of rails. Large hoppers mounted on the rails – called Johnsons – fed the product onto the belt system. The belts ran at a speed of 1.7 metres per second.

A 2022 safety risk assessment identified hazards from “non-compliant guards,” “rotating elements,” and the risk of “entanglement” when working near the belts.

On the day of the accident in 2023, the victim and five other workers were busy cleaning under the conveyor belts and removing debris via a moving belt.

The summary states that the victim lost his footing and fell while attempting to step over the conveyor belt. He rolled over several times and was pulled under the metal frame of an intersecting conveyor belt.

The victim fell while stepping over the middle conveyor belt. Photo / WorkSafe NZ.

A worker shouted “Crash 4, Crash 4” to signal an emergency stop of all machines, and another worker ran over and pressed the emergency stop button.

There was a delay between pressing the button and the conveyor belt stopping. One witness said it was going too fast and couldn't stop in time.

A colleague held the victim's head and body to prevent him from being dragged any further. St. John's Ambulance and the fire department were then called.

The colleague continued to calm the victim, who was trapped for about six minutes before the ambulance arrived.

The victim succumbed to his injuries.

The summary states that the safety hazard was that the victim was “pulled into a pull point and crushed” by working near a moving conveyor belt.

The most likely cause of death was traumatic asphyxia.

WorkSafe was alerted by the police and visited the scene of the accident the same day.

An external mechanical engineering expert then visited the scene of the accident and inspected the conveyor belt system.

In his October 23 report, he found that the machine guarding of the conveyor feed systems “generally did not meet WorkSafe standard requirements and best practices.”

He found that the emergency stop switches were located 20.75 m to the right and 12.82 m to the left of the accident site and that a worker had to walk around a large hopper.

On July 31, 2023, WorkSafe issued a prohibition order to Ballance requiring improvements to the conveyor system. This was lifted on January 24 after significant additional safeguards were installed.

WorkSafe's summary states that at the time of the accident, Ballance's standard operating procedures and guidelines for cleaning conveyor belts did not include warnings or instructions not to step over a live conveyor belt.

Other workers reported that it was normal to climb over moving conveyor belts.

There was also an “inconsistency” in procedures: the conveyor belt had to be “de-energized” while work was being carried out near it, but it was allowed to continue running to carry out some cleaning work in the presence of workers.

In another conflict, the hazard register prohibited cleaning within one meter of a moving conveyor belt without isolating the equipment, even though the distances between the belts were all less than one meter.

WorkSafe's summary states that Ballance's failure to ensure the victim's health and safety exposed other workers to the same risk.

-Bay of Plenty times.