A meatworks has been sentenced after one of its East Coast workers died in "wholly avoidable" circumstances.
Alfred Edwards, 61, was attempting to free a jammed carton in a blast freezer at AFFCO's Wairoa plant in February 2020 when a steel frame full of offal cartons fell and crushed him to death.
AFFCO is owned by Talley's Group Limited, which 1News has investigated over safety concerns.
WorkSafe "has been taking a close look at Talley's Group of companies, due to a history of serious health and safety incidents".
In a statement today, WorkSafe said "poor risk management and a lack of worker engagement" were factors in Edwards' death.
Edwards was alone at the back of the blast freezer at the time of the incident.
Gisborne District Court Judge Warren Cathcart today said it was "a wholly avoidable event".
WorkSafe found the "company was aware cartons had jammed previously, and the freezer had not been maintained to modern safety standards", noting that "the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 applies to anywhere work is carried out, regardless of how often".
AFFCO reportedly said the freezer was only used intermittently.
"AFFCO had overarching health and safety procedures, but they weren't applied in practice," WorkSafe's head of specialist interventions Catherine Gardner said. "Having a written process but not following it is the same as having nothing at all.
"The investigation also found management didn't spend enough time talking to workers on the job, to hear about and fix any safety issues with this machine. Doing so could have averted this tragedy."
AFFCO decommissioned the freezer after Edwards' death.
"Edwards was described as a man with mana who has left a huge void," Gardner said.
"The death has been devastating for his immediate whānau, and the small Wairoa community."
And WorkSafe will continue to monitor Talley's "for some time".
"Talley's has acknowledged improvements were needed and has been proactively engaged throughout WorkSafe's interaction with them.
"We're being as thorough as possible in order to shift Talley's health and safety culture in a meaningful way that creates lasting change, and keeps people healthy and safe," Gardner said.
AFFCO New Zealand Limited was fined $502,500 over the death.
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