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A waterproofing company has been fined $33,750 and ordered to pay reparation of $2,500 after one of its employees was overcome by toxic fumes.
The worker was applying a bitumen-based product to the inside of a grain silo at an egg farm near Hastings at the time of the incident in April last year.
The man was wearing a respirator, but did not have a solvent filter available and so used a dust filter, meaning he was exposed to the toxic solvent fumes.
The worker spent more than six hours working by himself on the silo and was found unconscious and unresponsive on the bottom of the silo near the end of the work day. He was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital where he was diagnosed as suffering from the toxic effects of carbon monoxide and "other gases, fumes and vapours".
He was discharged later that same day.
Gunac Hawke's Bay pleaded guilty in the Hastings District Court for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that its employee was not exposed to the hazard of working with solvents in a confined space.
Working with toxic chemicals in a confined space is inherently risky, WorkSafe New Zealand says, adding Gunac Hawke's Bay had not trained its employees in working in confined spaces and did not have an operating procedure for such work.
