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Kavinda Herath / Things
The workers were burned by chemicals and two companies were fined in Invercargill District Court.
Two companies have been fined more than $ 100,000 between them after workers were burned by chemicals while cleaning a mycoplasma bovis-infected farm in Southland.
Seven workers suffered minor or superficial burns and five were taken to Southland Hospital but not admitted.
One woman had superficial first-degree burns on her forearms that became infected and two men had minor burns to her face, one of whom did not seek medical treatment.
Others had minor burns on their arms.
READ MORE:
* $ 3 million compensation uncertainty lingers after ‘years of hell’ for Southland farmer
* MPI’s M.bovis program ‘a different beast’ three years later
* Defense attorney says the charges ‘have nothing to do with M. bovis’
AsureQuality and OneStaff (Queenstown / Invercargill) admitted their parts in an incident on a Southland farm in 2018 when seven workers suffered burns from a chemical when they should have been provided with chemically impregnable gloves, work shoes, an apron or overalls and a face shield. or respirator.
WorkSafe filed the charges, after it found that OneStaff failed to ensure its workers had the proper training, information or personal protective equipment for the job.
WorkSafe also found that AsureQuality did not have a sufficiently safe working system for cleaning and sanitizing work.
In Invercargill District Court on Thursday, Judge Russell Walker fined AsureQuality $ 66,000 after the company had previously pleaded guilty to two violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, enforced by WorkSafe.
OneStaff, a labor recruiting company, was fined $ 38,500 for failing to ensure the health and safety of its workers.
The Ministry of Primary Industries is also facing charges in connection with the incident, but has pleaded not guilty and will reappear on November 24.
M. bovis is a bacterium that causes an untreatable disease in beef and dairy cattle.
AsureQuality’s lawyer, Tim Clarke, said in this case, AsureQuality “could have done more and should have done more.”
MPI contracted with AsureQuality to oversee the cleaning and disinfection of the outbreak nationwide.
AsureQuality contracted with Industrial Scrub & Sweep to perform cleaning and sanitizing work.
The court’s summary of the facts says that “there was inadequate communication between AsureQuality, MPI and Industrial Scrub & Sweep about how the health and safety aspects of the cleaning and sanitizing work would be handled.”
Labor recruiting company OneStaff provided temporary workers as more workers were needed in response to the outbreak.
On April 26, 2018, OneStaff workers began work at Southern Center Dairies in Limehills, Southland, the summary says.
On May 17, 2018, Industrial Scrub & Sweep introduced XClean Doo Away Chemist to clean one of the sheds.
It was not listed in AsureQuality’s safety plan or cleaning and sanitizing plan for use at Invercargill, but as of April 2017 MPI had approved it as a cleaning product for use at Ashburton to address the M. bovis response.
OneStaff was not informed of the change in cleaning or chemical processes.
Judge Walker also convicted and removed AsureQuality for failing to consult, cooperate, and coordinate activities with MPI, OneStaff, and Industrial Scrub & Sweep.
AsureQuality and OneStaff were also ordered to pay the WorkSafe processing costs and divide the cost of the $ 1,000 emotional damage payments to five of the victims.
