MONTIGNY WORKER TRAPPED IN MACHINE, DIES

NHLANGANO – Production had to be halted at Montigny Investments Nhlangano site after a female employee died while on duty during the wee hours of yesterday.

The employee reportedly died while working in the night shift. According to the employees who were working with the deceased, the incident happened at around 2am while they were hard at work. It was reported that the employees, who were supposed to take the day shift, arrived for work at around 7am and were told about the incident. They said they were told that they could not work for that day because police were still busy at the scene. By the time this reporter arrived at the company premises, most of the employees were found seated outside the premises. The name of the employee is known to this publication but will not be revealed because her family could not be reached by the time of compiling this report.

Trapped

The employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, narrated that the employee was trapped by a conveyor belt of the big machines used to process the timber. The traumatised employees, who were working in the night shift, explained that the conveyor belt is always running as long as the crushing machine is on and they explained that they saw her being squeezed by the moving belt but they could not help her because they did not know how to stop the machine. Some of the employees raised concerns about their safety in the company as they claimed that some of the machines were posed danger.

Andrew Le Roux, Montigny Investments General Manager (GM), confirmed the tragic death of the employee. “I can confirm that there was a tragic death on the morning March 10, 2022 (yesterday) at the Montigny Investments Nhlangano site,” said the manager. Roux said the company was working with the authorities to establish the cause and ascertain the circumstances which led to the tragic incident.  He said at present, they were awaiting the outcome of the investigations before making any statements or determinations on the matter.
Roux further added that in terms of the company protocols, in tragic circumstances such as these, production was halted to allow for internal, police, medical and labour investigations.
When asked about the state of the safety of employees, he said Montigny took the safety, health and well-being of all employees very seriously and everything would be done to fully investigate the matter and appropriate action taken. He added that as a company they were currently focusing on advising the family of the deceased and providing all necessary support to them during this unfortunate moment.

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