Safety warnings for bottling plant days after being caught illegally taking water
A water bottling plant in Christchurch has been ordered to tighten its health and safety measures just days after it was caught illegally taking water from a city aquifer.
WorkSafe inspectors discovered a number of failings when they visited Cloud Ocean Water’s site in Belfast on Monday.
A WorkSafe spokeswoman said: "As part of an assessment visit, Cloud Ocean Water was issued with two prohibition notices relating to machine guarding, five improvement notices relating to machinery, personal protective equipment and site traffic management.
We will be monitoring compliance of these notices."
A spokeswoman for the company said: "As we are in the process of commissioning the plant, Cloud Ocean Water is working with our health and safety consultants and authorities to resolve teething issues as soon as possible.
In 2016/17 it issued more than 2000 improvement notices and 1000 prohibition notices as part of its regulatory activities.
It is not the first time Cloud Ocean Water has been censured for health and safety failings at the plant, which is being built on the site of the old Kaputone wool scour.
Photographs revealed workers standing precariously on the raised forks of a forklift truck while they carried out dangerous jobs, one apparently welding.
Another was spotted straddling the forklift as he worked on a roller shutter beneath a scissor-lift, which could have crushed him if it failed.
The company also failed to provide data on how much water it has taken – another breach of its conditions – though a Cloud Ocean Water spokeswoman said only a "small" amount of water had been taken illegally.