File image. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Two companies have been fined for their poor risk management that caused the death of a Clevedon forestry worker in 2022.
Misha Tremel, a 39-year-old subcontractor and qualified tree feller, was killed while manually felling trees on a small block in the area just south of Auckland.
The companies, Turoa Logging Limited and Pulley Contracting Limited, have been ordered to pay over $300,000.
Tremel was brought in by Turoa Logging, which was harvesting 7800 tonnes of pines on behalf of the forest managers, Pulley Contracting.
Tremel was felling windblown trees, which because they are bent and blown by wind, WorkSafe and the forestry industry 'strongly recommend' are harvested by machines.
WorkSafe said Turoa Logging had not properly reassessed it's harvesting plan and did not ensure safe felling practices were followed, and Pulley Contracting should have done more to identify the risks to workers and should have been auditing its contractors more carefully.
WorkSafe area investigation manager Paul West said Tremel was a much-loved husband and father to a young family, and was originally from Ukraine.
"Businesses must manage their risks and cannot contract their way out of responsibility. Contractors on smaller sites like this are owed the same level of care as those in large-scale operations," he said.
"Businesses must consult, cooperate, and coordinate as part of a contracting chain. WorkSafe recommends health and safety is always built into contract management."
Both Turoa Logging Limited and Pulley Contracting Limited were sentenced in the Manukau District Court yesterday, and ordered to pay a total of $355,680 in fines and reparation.
The maximum penalty for their charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act is a maximum fine of $1.5 million.
WorkSafe says it is turning 15 percent of it's frontline activity to the forestry sector because of it's high rate of harm, particularly for Māori workers.
In 2024, forestry had the highest fatalities of any sector, with 16.58 deaths for every 100,000 workers.
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