A farm worker who died after being engulfed by fire during a burn-off on Northburn Station near Cromwell had been sent into an area of dry vegetation in a steep gully with effectively no escape routes, a judge found yesterday.
Peter Grayland (52), of Alexandra, a former policeman and St John paramedic, died on September 3, 2014 while working on the station.
Northburn Ltd, which owns and operates the farm, pleaded guilty to a charge laid under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure an employee's safety.
At the sentencing before Judge Michael Turner in the Alexandra District Court yesterday, the company was ordered to pay a total of $179,000.
It has to pay $100,000 emotional harm reparation to Mr Grayland's widow and son, $7000 to the family for costs incurred as a result of Mr Grayland's death, and it was fined $72,000 on the charge.
All payments must be made within 10 days.
The defendant had sent an inadequately trained person "into a dangerous situation to undertake a dangerous task without taking steps to ensure his safety'', Judge Turner said.
He agreed with the prosecutor, Dale La Hood, that a worker with no experience of burn-offs had been sent into an area of dry vegetation in a steep gully, with effectively no escape routes to a safe zone, and was trapped, being "engulfed'' by fire after the wind changed direction.
Mr Grayland had worked for Northburn for 10 weeks and was one of two employees carrying out the burn-off.
The other employee was experienced in controlled burn-offs. Mr Grayland's only experience was a burn-off on the farm a couple of days earlier, Judge Turner said.
It was decided to do the burn-off on foot.
The two men took hand-held propane burners and separated once they got to the site, losing sight of each other.
Mr Grayland went down a spur area, where vegetation had been sprayed the previous year and lit the fire as he walked back up the hill.
He was surrounded by impenetrable vegetation.
The only way out was back the way he had come, the judge said.
When the wind changed direction half an hour later, his colleague phoned Mr Grayland on his cellphone to alert him.
Mr Grayland said he was moving out. He took a further call from his colleague 20 minutes later and said he was still on the move.
Cellphone reception was patchy in that part of the farm, Judge Turner said and after that the two men lost contact.
Mr Grayland's burning body was found by searchers at 6pm.
"He died as a direct consequence of the way the burn-off was undertaken.''
There were systemic failures, Judge Turner said. Mr Grayland had no experience of burn-offs or formal training and the plans for this burn-off essentially left him to his own devices, the judge said.
There was no lookout, the men did not stay within sight of each other, there were no reasonable safe zones, only sheep tracks into dense vegetation.
There was no reference to the best practice fire plan known as Laces, which stood for Lookouts, Awareness or Anchor points, Communication, Escape routes, Safety zones.
Although he accepted the company was genuinely remorseful, it waited to plead guilty until a month before the trial date, the judge said.
It said the issues were complex and it required expert input but the delay had an impact on Mr Grayland's family.
Judge Turner said in her victim impact statement, Mrs Grayland's "sense of grief and loss is palpable''.
She said she was upset by how she learnt about the incident and was given limited information at the time.
The statement outlined the emotional, social and financial consequences on the family.
There was no way money could compensate the family for the anguish and harm caused, the judge said.
Being unable to view the body added to the family's distress.
Defence lawyer Garth Gallaway said Northburn accepted the Laces fire plan might have been well-known among rural firefighters as best practice but it was not well-known within the rural community.
Humidity had dropped to 21% at the time of the tragedy, which was unprecedented, he said.
The change in wind direction and humidity were among the risks a fire plan should have been mitigating, Judge Turner said.
After the sentencing, Northburn Ltd director and shareholder Tom Pinckney said it was tragic incident for all involved but particularly Mrs Grayland and her family and friends.
