WorkSafe is warning employers long hours must not compromise worker safety after a man died in a tractor crash at the end of a nearly 17-hour day, having worked almost 200 hours in the two weeks leading up to the accident.
In Huntly District Court, Agricultural contractor Micheal Vining Contracting Limited has been fined $10,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $80,000 and costs.
It's the first sentencing for fatigue-related failings since the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
A worker for the company had been assisting with harvesting operations on a farm in Pukekawa in October 2016.
He logged a 16.75 hour day before departing the farm, taking a tractor home in preparation for the next day's work.
At 2.45am he crashed the tractor and died as a result of injuries sustained during the accident.
WorkSafe's investigation found that the worker had worked 197.25 hours in the two weeks leading up to the incident.
Fatigue was identified as the most likely cause of the accident. The worker was also not wearing a seatbelt.
The company had a health and safety document prepared for them in January 2016 which identified fatigue as a high rating hazard and outlined management steps including the monitoring of work hours and break times.
"This document had not been reviewed or implemented," said Simon Humphries, WorkSafe deputy general manager, investigations and specialist services.
"The warning was there and the company did nothing about it," he said.
"Seasonal work and tasks like harvest can put a huge amount of pressure on everyone involved. Managing the risks is essential. The life, health and wellbeing of your workers must be your number one priority."
Mr Humphries said: "Getting the job done is important, but not if the hours required to do it put workers at risk of injury or death."
Micheal Vining Contracting Limited was charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act that it failed to ensure so far as was reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that failure exposed the workers to a risk of serious injury or death, arising from fatigue.
The court indicated that a fine of $325,000 could have been appropriate but suppressed the reasons why a final fine of $10,000 was imposed.
The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1,500,000.
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