Farm to pay $152k for man's death

McCullough was ordered to pay $100,000 in reparation to the employee's wife and $52,000 in fines for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure his employee's safety.

A Southland farmer has been ordered to pay $152,000 in fines and reparations after a worker on his farm was crushed to death in August last year.

Nicholas David McKenzie, 51, was clearing scrub on Frederick McCullough's Orepuki farm when he was crushed between an excavator and tree stumps.

He was 5m away from the excavator, which McCullough was driving, as it was dragging a log backwards.

In the Invercargill District Court yesterday McCullough was ordered to pay $100,000 in reparation to the employee's wife and $52,000 in fines for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure his employee's safety.

WorkSafe New Zealand's chief investigator, Keith Stewart, said scrub clearing with an excavator posed an obvious risk to any worker on foot.

"McCullough should have identified a 'safe area' on site and ensured the employee was in it before driving or slewing the excavator," he said. "Safe areas are a simple but important way to protect workers.

"The excavator could have had rear vision mirrors and a travel alarm that warns people when the machine starts to move," Mr Stewart said.

The case was a sad reminder of the risks faced by people who worked around heavy vehicles. "Those risks have to be managed and minimised."