Sidogg Investments Limited, a dairy farming company, was fined $281,250 and ordered to pay reparations of $90,000 in the Ashburton District Court on Tuesday after one of its workers was crushed by a trailer.

In the September 2018 incident, the worker was standing on the draw bar of a trailer being towed by a four-wheel drive. The worker slipped from the draw bar and was drawn underneath the trailer and run over by the moving wheels, a WorkSafe investigation has found.

The worker suffered spinal injuries, pelvic and rib fractures and his life changed immeasurably as a result of the incident, WorkSafe said.

The worker, who was a migrant and spoke English as a second language, was not aware that standing on the drawbar of the trailer was a hazard, WorkSafe chief inspector Steve Kelly said.

The investigation found it was common practice for calf collection workers to stand on the drawbar, but this absolutely should not have been allowed, Kelly said.

At the time of the incident, a number of Sidogg Investments Limited workers were migrants and because of this, the company should have been taking extra precautions to ensure they understood health and safety risks clearly, he said.