Two Southland trucking companies will jointly pay a widow $134,350 in reparation after her husband died during a workplace accident in Bluff five years ago.
Transport Services Southland Ltd (TSSL) and Herberts Transport Ltd were yesterday also fined $212,000 and were ordered to pay costs of $1750 by Judge Noel Walsh in the Invercargill District Court yesterday.
Each company pleaded guilty to a charge of not taking all practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of a worker.
A third defendant, South Otago trucking firm McLellan Freight Ltd, has pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of a worker and one of failing to co-ordinate an activity with person conducting a business or undertaking. A date has not yet been set for the hearing in relation to those charges.
ADM New Zealand Ltd had contracted McLellan Freight Ltd to load and unload palm kernel extract (PKE) at a shed leased from South Port in Bluff.
In turn McLellan Freight Ltd contracted TSSL and Herberts Transport Ltd to provide trucks and drivers.
The summary of facts states the man was working for TSSL and after unloading his truck of PKE about 1.30am on February 24, 2017, he drove forward with the nose of the truck sticking out of the shed, in line with McLellan procedures.
He then walked to the back of his truck to check and clean off any excess PKE left on the back of the truck.
While standing at the back of the truck, a loader driver, who was there to push the unloaded PKE into the stack pile, reversed and hit the man.
Initially the loader driver was not aware he had struck the man. It was not until he heard the horn of another worker’s truck the loader driver saw the victim lying on the ground. When he became aware he immediately stopped his loader.
Workers administered first aid including CPR until an ambulance arrived but the man died from massive traumatic chest injuries at the scene.
A WorkSafe investigation revealed Herberts and TSSL had failed to ensure there was an appropriate and effective traffic management system in place prior to their employees commencing work.
It also revealed that while the man was wearing a high-vis T-shirt he was not wearing a high-vis vest as required by TSSL.
A victim impact statement from the man’s wife was read on her behalf while statements were read out by two of his daughters.
The wife said she lost her best friend the night her husband died. Her youngest daughter, who was 10 at the time of her father’s death, had struggled with mental health issues.
She said the five-year wait to get to court had stopped the family from moving forward.
"It’s been hard for all of us and there have been some dark days."
TSSL and Herberts lawyer James Cowan said the companies had worked in consort in keeping in contact with the man's family.
They had paid off the mortgage owed on the family home and the student loan of one of the daughters.
The companies had since put great investment into their health and safety practices since the accident, he said.
The strongest mitigating factor of sentencing was the companies’ support shown to the man’s family since his death, Mr Cowan said.
WorkSafe lawyer Ben Finn said the two companies should have intervened to ensure the safety of their workers.
He agreed both TSSL and Herberts had shown genuine remorse.
Judge Walsh advised the two companies if McLellan Freight is found not guilty of the charges it faces, TSSL and Herberts will be required to pay a further $115,878 in reparation.
