Manufacturing businesses invest $490k into hazardous substances safety following worker harm

This year, two manufacturing businesses have completed enforceable undertakings with WorkSafe New Zealand, following separate incidents where workers were harmed by hazardous substances.

An enforceable undertaking (EU) is a legally binding agreement that serves as an alternative to prosecution.

Under an EU, a business accepts responsibility for a health and safety failure and commits to improving health and safety practices in its workplace. The business must also share lessons learned with the wider industry and make amends to victims, either through financial compensation or other agreed forms of remediation.

These EUs highlight the importance of managing one of manufacturing's most significant health and safety risks.

The first, involving the meat processor Silver Fern Farms, follows a 2022 incident where two workers were hospitalised after inhaling a hazardous substance while cleaning the company's Hokitika plant.

WorkSafe’s investigation found the company failed to ensure worker safety while a cleaning chemical was being used.

Silver Fern Farms has now completed more than $170,000 worth of improvements, including safer chemical dispensing systems, hazardous substances training, stronger chemical first-aid arrangements, personal protective equipment (PPE) improvements, and an industry-wide programme to share lessons learned. It also paid reparations to the victims.

The EU for the cleaning products manufacturer Ecostore follows a 2023 incident in which a worker suffered permanent eye injuries after being sprayed with a hazardous liquid when a pressurised hose came loose during dishwasher powder manufacturing.

WorkSafe's investigation found shortcomings in the company’s chemical safety management, including PPE, worker training, and emergency management arrangements.