Quarries fined after employee suffers multiple fractures

A Dunedin quarryman fractured his skull, neck, back and ribs when he fell almost four metres and today his employer, Blackhead Quarries was fined $28,128 for not keeping him safe while he was at work.

The Dunedin District Court also ordered Blackhead Quarries to pay reparations of $20,000 to the injured employee, who was one of three employees doing routine maintenance work on a rock crusher at the Blackhead Quarry south of Dunedin on 1 September last year.

The employee stepped from a work platform onto the crusher and slipped, hitting his head on a shed as he fell at least 3.6 metres to the ground.

“Our investigation found there were no barriers on the side of the crusher where the employee fell. This lack of fall protection did not comply with industry standards or the company’s own standards,” says Department of Labour Service Manager, John Pannett.

“This employee could have been spared his extensive injuries had Blackhead Quarries identified falls from heights as a hazard before the maintenance work started, and installed a barrier as well as restricting access from the work platform to the crusher,” says Mr Pannett.

Since the accident Blackhead Quarries has put up a mesh fence barrier to prevent employees from stepping off the work platform onto the crusher.