WorkSafe New Zealand is turning its attention to food product manufacturing, with a nationwide programme of proactive safety visits over the next three months.
Inspectors will carry out hundreds of planned visits to food manufacturers including bakeries, confectionery, grain, and cereal manufacturers to oil and fat, dairy, meat, seafood, and fruit and vegetable processors. Businesses will be contacted in advance to arrange a suitable time for an in-person visit, which typically takes about an hour.
"We want to help businesses understand their risks, and take practical steps to make work safer," says WorkSafe's project lead, Loren Molloy. "Previous visits show this approach works - 73% of businesses visited by WorkSafe identified health and safety improvements because of their interaction with us."
Manufacturing has more injuries than any other sector, and food product is one of three subsectors, alongside wood product and metal fabrication, where WorkSafe concentrates its effort.
"Machinery continues to be a leading cause of harm in manufacturing," says Molloy. "Injuries from ineffective machine guarding and a lack of lockout/tagout practices come up repeatedly, particularly during cleaning, maintenance, or when workers are clearing jams."
Many serious injuries involve workers being caught in moving parts such as rollers, belts, or blades, often because machines were not adequately guarded or locked out.
These risks aren't hypothetical: a Christchurch commercial bakery was sentenced earlier this year after a worker's hand was pulled into machine rollers, resulting in life-changing injuries.
"WorkSafe expects businesses to identify their hazards and put effective controls in place," says Molloy. "For machinery, that means proper guarding, isolating machines before cleaning or maintenance, and making sure workers are trained to work safely."
Other common issues found in past assessments included poor hazardous substances recordkeeping and storage, inadequate dust and fume controls, and incorrect PPE (personal protective equipment) use.
Workplace culture makes a real difference. Strong leadership, clear expectations, and worker involvement support good practice and ensures concerns are raised, while a "just get the job done" mindset can let unsafe habits become normal.
"We sometimes hear the attitude that 'it's just a two-minute job', but even a quick routine task can cause life-changing injuries or death if it's not done safely," says Molloy.
Insights about the assessment findings will be shared publicly later in the year.
