A Southland farmer has been ordered to pay $152,000 in fines and reparations after a worker on his farm was crushed to death last year.
Nicholas David McKenzie, 51, was clearing scrub on Frederick McCullough's Orepuki farm when he was crushed between an excavator and tree stumps.
He was in a position five metres away from the excavator, which McCullough was driving, as it was dragging a log backwards.
McCullogh was ordered to pay $100,000 in reparation to the employee's wife and $52,000 in fines in Invercargill District Court yesterday for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure his employee's safety in the August 2013 incident.
WorkSafe New Zealand's chief investigator Keith Stewart said scrub clearing with an excavator posed an obvious risk to any worker on foot in the area.
"McCullough should have identified a 'safe area' on site and ensured the employee was in it before driving or slewing (turning) the excavator," he said. "Safe areas are a simple but important way to protect workers.
"The excavator could also have had rear vision mirrors and a travel alarm that warns people when the machine starts to move."
The case was a sad reminder of the risks faced by people who worked around heavy vehicles and in uncontrolled settings, he said. "Those risks have to be managed and minimised."
McCullough was called by NZME but did not wish to comment.
