$25k fine after employee injured while pumping concrete

A concrete pumping company has been fined $25,000 after an employee of another company was knocked unconscious when a hose being used to pump concrete fell and hit him in Morrinsville last year. Pumpcrete NZ Limited have also been ordered to pay reparation of $11,210 following the accident on 13 January 2011. The Auckland District Court heard that Pumpcrete was contracted to pump concrete into foundation excavations along a grid route where a power line was being built. "An employee of Pumpcrete was using a pumping rig on a truck with an extending pipe which was 28 metres long - he was instructed by his manager to add a further 16 metres of drop hose to the pipe," says the Department's Central General Manager Ona de Rooy. "He connected two 6-metre hoses and one 4-metre hose to the pipe and used the boom on the truck to lift the 16-metre extension into the air. "During pumping a steel coupling near the hose connection at the boom separated. Part of the hose as well as a portion of steel pipe that the hose was attached to fell on an employee of another company, temporarily knocking him unconscious," says Ms de Rooy. "There were a number of things this company failed to do to keep the employee of the other company safe at work. Firstly, their employee was not sufficiently trained to undertake the task and was not aware that the weight of an 8-metre hose extension was the maximum weight this particular boom could handle. Contrary to the manufacturers instructions the employee was instructed by the manager to attach the additional length of pipe following a client request. "Our investigation also found that daily and weekly maintenance procedures were not in place and some equipment being used was either not up to standard, or being used incorrectly," she says. "As well as being knocked unconscious, this employee broke a bone in his right shoulder and suffered a large gash to his head. These injuries could have been prevented if some key safety measures and proper training processes were in place."