Man fell to death on first day of new job

10 August 2006

The hiring of an inexperienced person to carry out risky work without providing training, supervision or protective equipment has cost three Tauranga companies more than $86,000 in fines and reparations, and left a family in mourning.

H & P Demolition Ltd, V Boothby Contractors Ltd, and The Prayer & Power Training Centre Trust were last month convicted in relation to the death of a worker who fell more than 7 metres through a plastic skylight last August. He landed on the concrete floor and died two days later.

The 43-year old man had been hired on the day of the fatal accident, and received no training or protective equipment before being put to work on the roof of a Mt Maunganui building under demolition. He fell within hours of beginning work.

Apart from being warned to ‘watch out for’ the plastic roofing and to walk on nail heads, the man and other workers received no training. There was nothing to prevent them from falling through the skylights or off the roof, and safety harnesses were not supplied.

The three companies that owed legal duties to the man were prosecuted by the Department of Labour for breaches of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

H & P Demolition and V Boothby Contractors were fined $28,000 and $16,000 respectively, and ordered to pay $25,000 and $15,000 to the family of the victim. The Prayer & Power Training Centre Trust was fined $2500 for its part in the fatal accident.

Department health and safety service manager for Western Bay of Plenty Faye Frelan said the incident could easily have been a multiple fatality, as a number of inexperienced workers were on the roof at the same time.

“Work at height is dangerous at the best of times, but putting a person with no training, no supervision and no fall protection on the roof of a 7m building was negligent in the extreme.”