Silent vigil protests workplace safety changes

Maryanne Butler-Finlay with a picture of her husband Charles Finlay. Photo / Marty Melville

A vigil to remember people killed workplace accidents made today the hardest day Maryanne Butler-Finlay has experienced since her husband was killed in a forestry accident two years ago.

Mrs Butler-Finlay organised a silent vigil in Tokoroa as part of a nationwide union action against the Government's Health and Safety Reform Bill.

Her husband Charles Finlay, 45, was killed on July 19, 2013 at a forestry work site in the Taumata Forest, Kinleith.

Mrs Butler-Finlay placed 297 white crosses at Lake Moananui to commemorate the number of people killed in workplace accidents since the Pike River tragedy.

"Fifty or 60 people turned out today...it was probably one of the biggest vigils [the Council Trade Union] has done so far," she said.

The vigil was for all families who have lost someone to a work-place death, not just forestry deaths.

"They came to support me and my children, but they were also there because they'd had fatalities in their families in the past."

She said the vigil had been emotional and "really hard".

"It was probably one of the worst experiences I've had to experience for a long time, since Charles' death.

"Knowing that every single cross represented a family member, and knowing that 290 people had 290 families that felt just like how me and my children felt when Charles died," she said.

Mrs Butler-Finlay has three children, Charles Junior, 22, and 11-year-old twins Shelby and Sharneica who "are still not coping".

"The kids doted on their father," she said.

The day was "astounding, but also beautiful," she said.

Mrs Butler-Finlay said she hoped the message got through to the government.

"It's to let the government know that we aren't happy with the Health and Safety Reform Bill and we aren't happy with the workplace death rate," she said.

Mr Finlay's employer M&A Cross Ltd pleaded guilty to breaches of safety laws that led to Mr Finlay's death after the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) launched a private prosecution.

The summary of facts said a log struck Mr Finlay on his head while he was standing behind a truck's trailer that was being loaded.

The company will be sentenced in the Rotorua District Court on October 2.

- NZME