KEY POINTS:
A Mount Maunganui-based company has been fined $150,000 and ordered to pay $22,000 to a worker who fell from a work platform and was crushed by a logging truck.
Staff had previously warned the employer, Owens Cargo Company Limited, about the need to maintain the platform ramp wires.
The Department of Labour prosecution followed an incident on February 22 last year where Paul Trevor Coker fell into the path of a moving truck when a wire rope failed.
He suffered a compound fracture to his left tibia and fibula, a severe crush injury to his right hand and right ankle, a soft tissue injury to his right shoulder, a significant chest injury with posterior right-sided rib fractures and a lung contusion.
Staff, including Mr Coker, had warned the employer about the state of the wires and the need to replace them, most recently at a health and safety meeting the day before Mr Coker's injury.
The employer was also aware that another worker had fallen in the same way, but was not injured, about six months before.
The company appeared in Gisborne District Court last week, pleading guilty to a charge under sections 6 and 49 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
In sentencing by Judge Stan Thorburn the company was fined $150,000 and ordered to pay $22,000 to the victim, and $2000 costs.
Department regional manager Ona De Rooy said the prosecution was taken under section 49, which was only used in the most serious cases.
This reflected that the employer had known it was reasonably likely an employee would suffer serious harm, but failed to take action to fix the problem.
"This should be a clear reminder to employers about both the importance of maintaining equipment in a fit state for use and to act on health and safety concerns raised by their staff," Ms De Rooy said.
" While the injuries suffered by the victim were significant, this awful incident could very easily have resulted in a fatality," she said.
" People who do a job every day can often provide the best information about health and safety problems, and how to fix those problems.
"Employers must listen to, and act on, health and safety concerns to avoid the human and financial cost of workplace injuries."
- NZPA
