CHCH bakery gets massive fine after worker suffers 'nightmare' hand injury

A Christchurch bakery has been hit with a $245k bill after a horrific workplace accident left a worker with injuries that “shattered his livelihood”.

The 41-year-old maintenance engineer had his hand pulled into the machine rollers at the French Bakery back in April 2023. His index finger was completely amputated, his thumb was partially cut off, and his middle finger was crushed.

It sure paints a squirmish mental image, and to know that it’s a reality for this man is horrific.

Following an investigation by WorkSafe, the company admitted to health and safety failures and was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday, February 24.

The business has been fined $200,000 and ordered to pay $45,500 in damages.

The worker, who has a permanent name suppression, said the incident left a lasting effect on his and his family's lives.

“It shattered my livelihood, destabilised my family’s future, and left me with a permanent physical and emotional wound,” he said in a victim impact statement.

WorkSafe principal inspector Shaun Millar called it a “nightmare scenario”.

Millar said the injury happened when one worker turned the machine on while another had his hand inside it - something basic safety procedures are designed to stop.

“Lockout/tagout isn’t optional. It’s a fundamental safety control.”

WorkSafe found staff were cleaning and maintaining machinery without systems in place to make sure it couldn’t be switched on. Some workers reportedly hadn’t been trained properly or given the right equipment.

While the bakery had health and safety documents on file, workers told investigators they’d never seen lockout tags used and didn’t know where the equipment was kept.

Risk assessments had identified some hazards, but completely missed the crushing danger of the machine’s rotating parts.

“This wasn’t a freak accident,” Millar said. “This was entirely preventable.”

“Every business with machinery needs to ask: Could this happen here? If you can’t confidently answer ‘no’, you have work to do…”

He added: “The cost of not doing it is measured in workers' lives and livelihoods.”