Paul Anderson with his partner, Vashti Faulkner, and daughters, Violet and Laurel. PHOTO/Mark Mitchell
Paul Anderson with his partner, Vashti Faulkner, and daughters, Violet and Laurel. PHOTO/Mark Mitchell
A transport watchdog has found that the train that ploughed into a digger driver leaving him with severe brain injuries was not at fault.
Paul Anderson was working on a digger on the Raurimu Spiral line as a Downer contractor in June 2014 when a train ploughed into him, causing him severe traumatic brain injury, as well as chest and lung trauma.
The father of two was choppered from the central North Island site to Waikato Hospital where neurologists said his injuries were some of the worst they had seen.
KiwiRail were ordered to pay $110,000 to the family in compensation by an Auckland District Court judge last year.
His partner Vashti Faulkner described the moment she first saw him in hospital after the incident.
"Tubes going into his nose, mouth, arms and chest ... eyes huge and black, swollen shut."
The scene of Paul Anderson's accident where his digger was hit by a train. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission released their findings today that the train was authorised to travel through the work area, but the excavator was not authorised to occupy the track.
The key lessons they identified were that workers with safety-critical roles can be placed in unsafe situations when standard operating procedures are not followed and seatbelts are known to prevent injuries in vehicle accidents and should always be worn where fitted.
The accident occurred when track maintenance work was being carried out. Anderson was to operate an excavator designed to travel on the rails.
Prior to starting work two trains were scheduled to pass through. The first train passed through without incident.
The rail protection officer who was in charge of site safety and protection authorised the second train to pass through the area. Meanwhile, unbeknown to the rail protection officer, the excavator driver had driven his excavator onto the track to start work.
The train passed the main work group and rounded a curve in the track. The train driver saw the excavator on the track ahead and applied emergency braking, but was unable to stop his train colliding with the excavator.
The excavator was significantly damaged in the collision and the Anderson was critically injured.
Anderson likely thought he was authorised to occupy the track because he had misinterpreted a 'thumbs up' signal to mean that work was about to begin, and because he had not been fully briefed on the work plan for the day, the TAIC report stated.
"A thumbs up does not seem like a good communication system," Judge Philippa Cunningham said in Auckland District Court last year.
Paul Anderson with his partner Vashti Faulkner before the accident. PHOTO/supplied
KiwiRail lawyer Richard McIlraith said at the court hearing that the company's chief executive Peter Reidy immediately suspended any work on the lines for 48 hours until it could be determined what had gone wrong.
Eventually a new scheme was implemented, which now sees staff mandatorily stay put in a safe zone until a train passes.
The TAIC also found that non-compliance with KiwiRail standard operating procedures for the planning, the establishment and the running of the protected work area was a factor that contributed to the accident.
