A Dunedin company was not to blame for an incident which resulted in a worker having part of his finger cut off in May, an investigation by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has found.
In the incident at Ellis Fibre, the man had part of his middle finger cut off while using a piece of machinery at the company.
About a week after the incident, a 43-year-old worker at the same company had his right hand cut off while working on a different piece of machinery.
A spokeswoman for the ministry's labour group (formerly known as the Department of Labour) said an investigation found the worker who had part of his finger severed had "failed to follow instructions for clearing fibre blockages as set out in the job breakdown sheets".
"The machine involved met all current safety standards and access to the dangerous part of the picker complied with all required guarding standards, but, because of the worker's build and height, he managed to access a dangerous part of machinery that would normally be beyond the reach of the average person," the spokeswoman said.
The investigation found the company was not to blame and had taken "all steps to ensure the safety of the employee".
Ellis Fibre owner Glenn Alexander said the company respected the results of the investigation.
The worker, who lost about 3mm of his finger, had been back at work for about three weeks, Mr Alexander said.
He said the company had taken steps to ensure a similar incident could not be repeated.
The second incident at Ellis Fibre Ltd, in which the employee had his hand cut off, is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the ministry.
