21 Sep 2023

Employee dies at paper bag manufacturing site in Auckland

4:44 pm on 21 September 2023
A police car

RNZ / Marika Khabazi Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi

An employee has died at a paper bag manufacturing site in the Auckland suburb of Penrose.

A spokesperson for Oji Fibre Solutions, said the company "is very sad to confirm one of our employees passed away on our Paper Bag site in Penrose this morning".

"We are yet to determine the circumstances leading to this, but we are working closely with the appropriate authorities.

"Our immediate thoughts go out to the person's family and friends, and their work colleagues, who will all be devastated by this event," the spokesperson said.

Oji Fibre Solutions is packaging manufacturer, who say they are "one of Australasia's leading manufacturers of pulp, paper and wood-fibre based packaging solutions".

The paper bag site in Penrose exports paper bags internationally.

Police earlier confirmed they had been called to a "medical incident" around 10am at Hugo Johnston Drive in Penrose.

"At this stage the death is being treated as a medical event and will be referred to the coroner," a police spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for WorkSafe said that, "initial indications are this is a medical event which WorkSafe would not have involvement with".

- This story was first published by Stuff.