Company fined $330,000 after Waikato worker falls from tower
Monday, 26 November 2018
A company has been fined $332,060 after one of its workers fell from a 30 metre transmission tower.
The employee, who was harnessed to the tower, suffered multiple injuries and was lucky to escape with his life, WorkSafe New Zealand said in a statement.
Electrix Ltd - a construction engineering company - was found to have put its employee at risk of death or serious injury.
A sentencing decision was released by the Hamilton District Court on Monday after a WorkSafe investigation into the incident.
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The incident, which happened in August 2016, left the worker with injuries and trauma that he'll carry for the rest of his life, WorkSafe's head of specialist interventions Simon Humphries said.
The temporary tower, which was installed as part of the Waikato Expressway development, wasn't secure when it fell to the ground, the investigation found.
Electrix Ltd had failed to implement a safe system of work, failed to ensure the tower was erected properly and failed to ensure the competency of its workers on the towers.
The sentencing should remind those working in the industry to ensure they mitigate the risks associated with the industry, Humphries said.
'If you are expecting your workers to carry out their duties 30 metres in the air, then as an employer you need to have absolute and fail-safe measures in place to keep those workers safe.
'This worker was lucky to escape this incident with his life but will carry the injuries and trauma sustained in the incident with him for the rest of his life.'
Electrix Ltd was sentenced under sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and 2(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
The maximum penalty is a fine of $1.5m.