Vineyard hit with fine after worker broke arm

Craggy Range vineyard in Martinborough has been fined $36,000 for a breach of the Health and Safety in Employment Act after a contract worker fractured his arm when he was thrown off the back of a quad bike and was run over by an attached trailer.

The victim was lucky not to suffer more serious injuries after the wheel of the trailer narrowly missed his head.

Judge Peter Hobbs also fined the vineyard and ordered it to pay $6500 in reparation to the victim in Masterton District Court yesterday. The company pleaded guilty to the charge brought by the Health and Safety Group of the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Judge Hobbs fined the vineyard after he decided it had breached Section 18 of the act which requires a company takes all practicable steps to ensure that an employee of its contractor is not harmed doing work the contractor was engaged to do.

Judge Hobbs said Craggy Range vineyard was responsible for the accident which occurred on May 10 of last year. The impact led to the victim Luke Dylan Crawford sustaining significant injuries. He said the incident could quite easily have resulted in Mr Crawford's death.

The judge addressed Stephen Langton, the company's legal representative and said the failure of the company to ensure passengers were safely positioned on the quad bike was the major contributing factor. "It seems to me that you should have taken further steps to prohibit people from riding on the back of these quads before the accident."

The Martinborough vineyard regularly hires contract workers for seasonal tasks such as picking and transporting grapes.

On the day of the accident, Mr Crawford, an employee of Bunty Horticulture, arrived at the vineyard to start grape picking with a number of other workers.

At about 2.15pm, a quad bike driver was using a Honda TRX 500cc quad bike with a trailer attached to pick up and transport grapes. Two passengers, one of whom was Mr Crawford, were sitting on the rear of the quad bike prior to it moving off.

Mr Crawford and a colleague had positioned themselves on either side of the flat carrier, facing forwards. Neither of them were wearing a helmet.

As the driver accelerated to move the quad bike forward the front wheels lifted off the ground, causing Mr Crawford to lurch backwards and fall off.

Mr Crawford landed on his stomach, between the rear of the quad bike and trailer. When he realised that one of the trailer wheels was close to his head, he attempted to push himself out of the way, however in doing so, his right arm was run over by the wheel. It was later discovered he had a fractured arm.

Craggy Range vineyard was contacted by the Wairarapa Times-Age. The opportunity to comment was declined.

Wairarapa service manager Dave Hulston of the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment said that the safety inadequacies displayed by the vineyard were in contrast to all best health and safety practice.

"The circumstances of this accident directly contravene a critical piece of advice provided by the quad bike manufacturer and by the Ministry's quad bike harm reduction programme - these machines are not designed to carry passengers."

Judge Hobbs praised Craggy Range vineyard's health and safety record prior to the accident and its response to health and safety procedures since the accident.