A West Auckland bakery business has been fined $36,000 after one worker lost several fingers and another lost a fingertip due to exposed machinery.
The incidents occurred six months apart at Bakeworks Limited, which makes gluten-free products.
In January 2021 a worker lost four fingers when her hand got caught in a seed grinding machine. WorkSafe said she hadn't used the grinder before or received any training on how to use it.
The worker had seven surgeries on her hand and remains off work.
WorkSafe found the grinder didn't have a safe operating procedure and its safety guard hadn't been replaced after breaking off 18 months earlier. It said the worker was unsupervised and had only been given training just before the incident.
In June later that year, another worker had her fingertip sliced off while using a dough dividing machine. It couldn't be reattached.
A WorkSafe investigation found the machine also didn't have a safe operating procedure and its guillotine was "freely accessible". No inspection or maintenance had been undertaken and the worker — just like her colleague — was "inadequately trained".
"Both of these incidents were entirely avoidable, but to harm a second worker is nothing short of reprehensible when Bakeworks was already on notice of the harm that deficient machine guarding can cause," WorkSafe's area investigation manager Danielle Henry said.
Bakeworks was sentenced in the Waitākere District Court yesterday for health and safety failures over both incidents.
A fine of $36,000 was imposed by the judge.
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