She said it was the first such incident the business had experienced with any of the vending and claw game machines at the park.<\/p>\n
In Napier last month a boy had to be freed by firefighters after getting an arm stuck in a vending game machine at Kennedy Park Resort. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Last year ACC paid<\/a> $53,727 related to 13 vending machine injuries that occurred during 2025 and ongoing treatment for a further 13 injuries that happened in previous years.<\/p>\n The ACC data did not specify the types of injuries or their seriousness.<\/p>\n Previous domestic and international research suggests some of the most common injuries from vending machines<\/a> are back strains suffered by those moving the units, which can weigh up to 430kg.<\/p>\n Other frustrated users have received crush injuries, cuts and fractures when trying to retrieve items they had paid for but got stuck in the internal mechanisms of machines.<\/p>\n Even a baby had had a lucky escape. Eight years ago, a 1-year-old got stuck after managing to climb<\/a> into a claw vending machine that offered rugby balls to paid players at the Waih\u012b Beach RSA. Onlookers were able to free him before firefighters arrived.<\/p>\n Jorge Villarreal, owner of Auckland-based commercial vending supplier Shnackz Vending, told the Herald he had policies in place to help ensure no one was injured by any of his machines.<\/p>\n That included placing them in areas under video surveillance in a bid to deter people from putting their hands into them.<\/p>\n His machines also feature stickers with safety information.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a hand gets stuck, that means you went too far… trying to do a dodgy thing,\u201d he told the Herald.<\/p>\n Villarreal said he had never had any safety-related issues with his machines.<\/p>\n He understood consumers might get frustrated if the drink or snack they had purchased became stuck in the machine because of a jam or a mechanical failure.<\/p>\n But his machines, and many others now on the market, now have \u201cfall sensors\u201d that trigger refunds if a paid-for item didn\u2019t drop.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the product doesn\u2019t pass through the sensor, you don\u2019t get charged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nFirefighters removed the door to a vending machine to release a boy’s stuck arm last month. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
An increasing number of vending machines now feature \u201cfall sensors\u201d that trigger refunds if paid-for items don’t drop. Photo \/ iStock<\/p>\n