A seafood supplier has been fined $180,000 after an employee was seriously injured when their arm became caught in a tumbler used for cleaning mussels.
The incident occurred on a Coromandel Peninsula mussel farm in January 2023.
Marine mussel farms work by growing mussels on ropes which are then hauled onto a barge, stripped off the rope and cleaned in the mussel tumbler.
The tumbler itself needed to be cleaned after each use to remove debris that might be left inside.
The employee noticed there was a bit of seaweed inside the tumbler and reached in to grab it. At the same time, another worker in the cabin turned the vessel on.
This immediately restored power to the tumbler, causing "significant injury" when the employee's arm was caught in the fast-turning machinery.
Maritime NZ investigations manager John Maxwell said workers removed the debris by hand and the tumbler should be turned off when it was being cleaned.
"The particular tumbler was not configured to automatically shut off if the door is open.
"If the machinery had been configured in a way that stopped the tumbler from turning on while its doors were open, the incident would not have happened."
Since the incident, Paddy Bull Limited had the engineering controls modified on the tumbler to prevent it happening again.
Paddy Bull Ltd was sentenced in the Auckland District Court earlier this month for breaching its duties by exposing a worker to the risk of death or serious injury under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
The company was fined $180,000 and ordered to pay victim reparations and court costs.
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