Builder loses injury appeal

A construction firm lost an appeal against its conviction when a worker had two leg bones broken on an Auckland building site.

Builders Corner took the Department of Labour to the High Court at Auckland to be cleared of one count under the Health and Safety in Employment Act but Justice Timothy Brewer dismissed that last week.

Builders Corner's Dave Stringfield said the injured man had returned to work early after the accident and he continued to work for the firm.

The latest decision was unfair but a Court of Appeal action would be prohibitively expensive, he said.

The department said the worker was "lucky to be alive" after a digger bucket fell on him at the Orakei site on November 3, 2009.

The bucket came off the digger, striking him and leaving him with serious leg injuries and head injuries, it said.

Stringfield said the head injury was a slight cut but the leg injuries were "more severe, it broke both bones in his leg".

At the Auckland District Court last November, Builders Corner was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $17,500 for failing to ensure employees were safe using its machinery.

But Stringfield said an infringement notice would have been acceptable and he described the accident as an unfortunate combination of events.