Balclutha man John Tilson was standing too close to avoid being hit by a section of tree which fell and killed him during a tree-felling operation 14 months ago, a coroner's inquest has found.
Mr Tilson was helping a trained arborist to fell a row of poplars in Centennial Ave, Balclutha, when the top section of a tree fell on him as he was in the process of lowering it on a rope, coroner David Crerar said in his inquest report.
Mr Tilson was helping part-time, self-employed arborist David McKeitch fell large poplars on the property of Mr Tilson's friend, Hans Verdoner, when the accident happened on October 31, 2010.
Mr Tilson, who was retired, died in Dunedin Hospital about a month after the incident, from complications which arose when the large top section, or "head" of the tree, fell on him.
Mr Crerar reported how Mr Tilson was pulling a rope to direct the fall of a branch, but had placed himself in a position of danger by not using a "sufficient length of rope".
"The primary cause of the injuries ... was John Tilson standing in a position of vulnerability, pulling the rope. More rope should have been used and John Tilson should have been positioned outside the fall zone," Mr Crerar's report found.
Mr McKeitch, as a trained and experienced arborist, ought to have seen this as a potential danger and ought to have insisted on his helper standing in a safer position, Mr Crerar said.
"There is a lesson of safe practice which has been learned from the tragedy and this lesson requires publicity."
The coroner recommended his findings be forwarded to the Department of Labour and the New Zealand Arboricultural Association.
