Higgins Contracting has been fined $270,000 and ordered to pay reparations totalling almost half-a-million dollars over a crash in Bay of Plenty last year that left three roadworkers dead.
Photo: 123rf
WorkSafe's investigation found multiple failings on behalf of the company that subsequently lead to the loss life.
Dudley Sole Raroa, David Reginald Te Wira Eparaima and Haki Graham Hiha were working in a culvert on State Highway 2 near Matata when their truck overturned after it was swiped by another vehicle on 26 February 2019, fatally injuring them.
Higgins was sentenced on health and safety charges laid by WorkSafe in the Whakatane District Court.
WorkSafe found there was no temporary traffic management in place when the workers were fatally injured.
There were also no procedures in place for assessing when, where or how temporary traffic management should be used in Higgins Contractors Limited's roading operations when cleaning culverts.
The company was ordered to pay a fine of $270,000 and reparation, in addition to payments already made by Higgins, totalling more than $494,611 to the families of the deceased.
WorkSafe head of specialist interventions Simon Humphries said the investigation found Higgins had failed to ensure temporary traffic management was installed before any work started, leaving workers with no protection from oncoming traffic.
"As well as this, no standard operating procedures were provided by the company to clarify when temporary traffic management was required for culvert cleaning," he said.
"Higgins should have provided clarity around whether shoulder or full-lane closure was required or what constituted a safe distance from the road so that temporary traffic management wasn't required.
"A lack of basic risk management has led to three fatalities, and left three families mourning the loss of loved ones. This tragic incident highlights just how important it is to always ensure risk is being appropriately managed in the workplace."
The union for road workers said the sentence showed the need for a corporate manslaughter charge.
Amalgamated Workers' Union national secretary Maurice Davis told Midday Report that did not go far enough.
The union is lobbying the government to introduce a corporate manslaughter charge.
Justice Minister Andrew Little has previously said that was something the government would look at.
