The death of a West Coast flooring company employee has drawn a strong warning from WorkSafe New Zealand to businesses not to rely on the experience of workers in the absence of proper risk identification and management.

Edge protection must be inspected, maintained and routinely replaced to ensure it can effectively keep workers safe from a fall from heights.

The safety of customers and others interacting with a business must be a priority when considering health and safety in the workplace says WorkSafe, and policies in place should be implemented every day.

Scaffolds will only keep workers safe if they are erected by someone with competence experience, says WorkSafe. If not constructed correctly, they can put workers at risk.

A failure to ensure simple safety measures, such as machine guarding and supervision are in place, has left a worker with severe injuries after his arm got caught in a machine used to shred tyres.