Media Release

11 August 2010

The Department of Labour has issued a reminder to employers about their responsibility to ensure their staff are properly trained before taking on hazardous work. It follows the sentencing of Inframax Construction Limited at the Taumarunui District Court today.

Inframax was sentenced to a fine of $43,000 and reparation of $17,500 following a Department of Labour investigation into a tree felling accident on 16 September 2009 where an employee of the company, Patrick Raymond Bradley, was seriously injured.

Mr Bradley was working on a roading project where a number of willow trees overhanging the Ongarue Back Road needed to be removed when the accident happened. He made a number of cuts on one side of the tree trunk and then cut into the other, the tree then split vertically and the trunk fell back onto him causing serious injury.

The Department of Labour’s Hamilton Service Manager, Mark Whatnall says the accident was preventable. “If the employee was adequately trained this accident would probably not have happened” Mr Whatnall says.

“The Department’s investigation found that not only did the company fail to ensure that Mr Bradley and his supervisor were adequately trained to carry out this type of tree felling work, they also did not identify and communicate the potential hazards and controls for those hazards to its employees.”

ENDS

Please note that health and safety services, formerly referred to as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) should now be referred to as the Department of Labour.

For further information call 0274 422141 or media@dol.govt.nz