A bakery must pay over $245,000 in penalties after being sentenced for safety violations that caused a worker’s hand to get caught in machine rollers, resulting in the amputation of his index finger.
WorkSafe reports that in April 2023, a 41-year-old father’s hand was dragged into machine rollers at French Bakery in Christchurch.
In addition to his index finger amputation, the man’s thumb was partially severed and his middle finger crushed.
Following a WorkSafe probe, the company admitted health and safety breaches before its sentencing in Christchurch District Court.
French Bakery received a $200,000 fine and was ordered to pay $45,500 in reparations.
The man said the incident “did not merely affect my hand.”
“It shattered my livelihood, destabilised my family’s future, and left me with a permanent physical and emotional wound.”
WorkSafe principal inspector Shaun Millar explained that one worker activated the machine while another had his hand inside it.
“That’s the nightmare scenario that proper lockout procedures are designed to prevent,” he said.
“Lockout/tagout isn’t optional. It’s a fundamental safety control.”
WorkSafe noted that bakery workers cleaned and maintained machinery without safeguards to prevent it from being powered on while they were exposed to moving parts.
WorkSafe added that some workers had received no training or proper equipment.
The company’s risk assessments flagged some hazards but “completely missed” the crushing danger from the machine’s internal rotating parts.
Millar called tick-box risk assessments “worse than useless,” as they “create a false sense of security.”
“You need to systematically identify every way a worker could be harmed, including during cleaning, maintenance and repairs, not just during normal operation.”
WorkSafe noted French Bakery had extensive documentation, yet workers reported never seeing lockout tags used, not knowing where equipment was stored, and lacking training in key procedures.
“Every business with machinery needs to ask themselves: Could this happen here? If you can’t confidently answer ‘no’, you have work to do.”