WorkSafe New Zealand | A gas explosion that burned a forklift driver offers a stark lesson for businesses across all industries, WorkSafe New Zealand says, following a court decision in the case.
The forklift caught fire in March 2024, igniting LPG that was being released from condemned cylinders at Tank Test Laboratories 2017 Limited (Tank Test) in Papatoetoe. Several 9kg gas bottles exploded, fuelling a significant fire. The driver was hospitalised with burns and spent nine weeks off work.
In sentencing Tank Test, Judge Gus Andrée Wiltens described the hazard as “clear and obvious”. He noted the company could have eliminated the risk at no cost by ensuring forklift and degassing operations never happened at the same time.
Tank Test was sentenced in a reserved decision of the Manukau District Court. The Judge imposed a fine of $300,000 and reparations of $5,000.
Tank Test was charged under sections 36(1)(a) and 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 – Being a PCBU, having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU (including the victim), while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, failed to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed any individual to a risk of death or serious injury.
