Tree feller loses leg in workplace accident

A Napier-based company was fined $30,000 for its role in a logging accident which left one of its employees seriously injured, requiring part of his right leg to be amputated.

The Department of Labour prosecuted A1 Contractors Limited which was also ordered to pay reparations of $30,000 to the injured employee for the accident at a property in Patoka in Hawke’s Bay on 19 March 2010.

The Napier District Court heard that trees were being removed from a worksite on the property, which involved felling, breaking out and extracting. As one of the logs was being extracted from the worksite a part of it struck the employee’s lower right leg, causing severe injuries. He was taken to hospital where the lower part of his leg was amputated.

“Our investigation found that it was almost inevitable that the employee would be struck by a loose branch moved by the log,” says the Department’s Napier Service Manager, Murray Thomson.

“At the time of the accident the company didn’t have an adequate health and safety system in place to manage the process for the removal of logs felled – exposing its employees to a high level of risk.

“A1 Contractors should have had an adequate system in place that identified the need for employees to be properly trained or supervised at work. If that had happened, this employee may not have suffered such a devastating injury.

“Hazards associated with the tree felling work had not been identified or controlled. This is simply not acceptable - A1 Contractors should have identified the appropriate industry standard for carrying out this work,” Mr Thomson says.

ENDS

Note to Editor

• A1 Contractors Limited was convicted in the Napier District Court on Monday 11 April 2011 on one charge under Section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.
• Section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 states: Every employer shall take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work; and in particular shall take all practicable steps to—
• (a) provide and maintain for employees a safe working environment; and
• (b) provide and maintain for employees while they are at work facilities for their safety and health; and
• (c) ensure that plant used by any employee at work is so arranged, designed, made, and maintained that it is safe for the employee to use; and
• (d) ensure that while at work employees are not exposed to hazards arising out of the arrangement, disposal, manipulation, organisation, processing, storage, transport, working, or use of things—
• (i) in their place of work; or
• (ii) near their place of work and under the employer's control; and
• (e) develop procedures for dealing with emergencies that may arise while employees are at work.
• The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is available online: http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0096/latest/DLM278829.html