Forestry company to pay over $500k after employee's death

A forestry company has been fined $265,000 and ordered to pay $271,000 in reparations after an employee was fatally crushed on the job two years ago.

The forestry technician was repairing the head of a harvester machine in Quail Ridge Forest, Putere when it was accidentally activated by manual spinning, crushing the 48-year-old.

Waratah Forestry Services was sentenced at the Auckland District Court today after pleading guilty to health and safety failures.

They were fined $265,000 and ordered to pay $271,000 in reparations for exposing workers to a risk of death or serious injury.

A WorkSafe investigation found inadequate training and supervision contributed to the man's death, pointing out Waratah’s poor controls and monitoring of employee risk.

"Although the field technicians were provided with some safety instruction, the manuals for the harvester head were large and the 'buddy' training system the business had was insufficient," said WorkSafe's area investigation manager, Danielle Henry.

"Any business with field staff should stay on top of how those workers go about their job on an ongoing basis. It can be easy for safety to be compromised without workers necessarily realising it while they’re working remotely, and employers need to be attuned to that risk," said Henry.