Emergency services attend the accident, on Upland Terrace in Kelburn in March 2015. Junior Hunt later died as a result of his injuries.

Enviro Waste has been ordered to pay more than $150,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches following the death of a Wellington recycling contractor in March 2015.

On March 3, 2015, Junior Hunt, an employee of a recruitment agency contracted to Enviro Waste, became trapped between the bin lifter and the centre pod of his truck as he collected recycling on Upland Terrace in Kelburn.

Despite the efforts of a passing student and another nearby resident to free Hunt, he remained pinned until emergency services arrived, causing severe crush injuries. Hunt, 20, died in Wellington Hospital the following day.

Maarten Holl An investigation by WorkSafe said Enviro Waste missed "many opportunities" to mitigate the hazard which led to Junior Hunt's death.

This week Enviro Waste pleaded guilty to charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act. The company was ordered to pay $85,000 to Hunt's family, as well as $56,250* in fines as well as court costs.

READ MORE: Recycling truck driver dies

In a statement WorkSafe New Zealand said that its investigation into the accident found multiple health and safety failures. Hunt was not trained in line with company policy, while Enviro Waste failed to take steps to manage the hazards posed by the bin lifting mechanism.

WorkSafe said Enviro Waste was involved in the design of the bin lifting mechanism, which exposed the operator to the risk of being crushed because they could be close to the bin during the lifting process. It added that members of the public were put at risk because the operator could leave the vicinity of the truck during the lifting.

Employees of Enviro Waste in Wellington had noted issues with bin lifters stalling in mid-air, but the company did not note this as a hazard or take steps to eliminate it.

Keith Steward, WorkSafe's chief inspector, said Enviro Waste had missed "many opportunities" to identify the risks and put in place systems to reduce the danger faced by staff and contractors.

"The victim was a young worker, tragically taken in the prime of his life. Sadly, [Enviro Waste's] failures to keep Junior Hunt safe by providing adequate training and properly managing the hazards on the recycling truck have resulted in devastating and irreversible consequences for the victim and his family."

Enviro Waste chief executive Gary Saunders would not be interviewed on the WorkSafe findings, but said in a statement that it had "respect" for the court judgment.

"Rigorous investigations have been undertaken, operational improvements introduced and we have made targeted modifications to the operational design of the trucks," Saunders said.

The company's thoughts were with Hunt's family "who have again been reminded of this tragic incident".

* An earlier version of this story reported the fine as $66,000. In a statement on March 29, WorkSafe it had been advised by the court that this was an error, and that the fine should have been $56,250.