Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
15 September 2013
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$42,187.50

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Document and implement a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for operation of any machinery and its particular uses as a lifting machine or crane;
  2. To provide the operator of the digger with the appropriate equipment, such as chains for lifting purposes, to ensure that the required task could be completed in a safe manner;
  3. Ensure that safety pins were used when a bucket was attached to the quick hitch point of the digger to ensure that the bucket could not become disengaged from the hitch.

Defendant name:
Woods Contracting Services Limited
 
Industry:
Building and construction
 
Date of offence:
15 September 2013
 
Facts in brief:
The defendant company was engaged by KiwiRail to assist the replacement of old wooden railway sleepers. On 15 September 2013, a hydraulic hose on the dump truck ruptured and the defendant engaged Mobile Mechanical Serviced Limited to repair the hose. The mechanic from Mobile Mechanical Services was assisted by an employee of the defendant company to access the broken house and elected to lift the two-tonne truck with a bulldozer. The employee had failed to engage the pins on the quick-hitch and in the course of this operation; the truck’s bucket came loose and fell off its quick-hitch point.

As a result, the bucket of the bulldozer landed on the mechanic, suffering serious harm. He suffered fractures in his pelvis and was in hospital for 12 days.
 
Offence section:
S18(1)(a) Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:
12 March 2014

Court:
Palmerston North - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$42,187.50
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$22,560.23
 
Related Documents:
PDF
Sentencing notes - WorkSafe New Zealand v Woods Contracting Services Limited (PDF 380 KB)
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