$70,000 payout for killed teen’s family
A West Coast building company has been ordered to pay $70,000 to the family of a teenage employee killed while working under a bach.
Rory Hayward, 18, who had just started his first proper job, was repiling the remote riverside Westland bach when it collapsed and killed him on April 12, 2017.
Hayward’s employer was sentenced after pleading guilty to health and safety charges in the Greymouth District Court yesterday.
Judge Alistair Garland said he would have imposed a $540,000 fine and $117,000 emotional harm reparation, but the company did not have the ability to pay more than $70,000. The judge said he could not impose a financial penalty on the company that would send it into liquidation and possibly lead to the family receiving nothing.
He declined permanent name suppression, but the employer’s lawyer said he would appeal the decision to the High Court. The interim name suppression order was continued until midday Monday for an appeal to be filed.
WorkSafe senior solicitor Lucy Moffitt told the court it was one of the most serious cases, if not the most serious, to come before the court under the new Health and Safety at Work Act.
‘‘Rory was only 18, still a child in many respects. He was new to the job and very much a vulnerable victim. The company was doing work it was not equipped to do safely.’’
WorkSafe recently issued the company with a prohibition and improvement notice for a job involving scaffolding because the workers were not certified to do scaffolding work, she said.
The bach, by the mouth of the Poerua River near Harihari, had been jacked up 400 millimetres and placed on blocks.
Moffitt told the court Hayward had questioned whether it was stable, as the middle was sagging, but the company director said it did not need to be pushed up. He told WorkSafe he saw Hayward adjusting one of the jacks under the building, and told him it was not safe to be there.
Hayward started crawling out, but the bach shifted, twisted off the jacks and dropped, Moffitt said.
‘‘He sustained fatal crushing injuries from the impact of the bach falling on him, and died instantly.’’
The repiling job was inherently dangerous, she said. The bach did not collapse due to jack failure, but because the piling job was not done safely.
WorkSafe found that the company should have used lateral bracing to secure the building during jacking, and should have isolated the area under it with warning tape.
Victim impact statements were read out in court by Hayward’s family, but were permanently suppressed at their request.
Defence lawyer Marcus Zintl said the company director was extremely remorseful, but if the company’s name was published it would lead to fewer jobs and harm his mental health. He had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder since Hayward’s death, Zintl said.
Judge Garland said the small West Coast community likely already knew which company was involved, and it was still getting work.
Hayward’s family had suffered enormous emotional harm by losing a son and a brother at such a young age and in the prime of his life, the judge said.
‘‘The company was doing work it was not equipped to do safely.’’
Lucy Moffitt, WorkSafe solicitor