Charges over pond drowning

The Gore District Council has been charged after a boy drowned in its wastewater ponds.

A WorkSafe New Zealand spokesperson said it had completed its investigation following an incident at the ponds last year.

The council has been charged under sections 37(1) and 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Council chief executive Stephen Parry said that as the matter was now before the court, the council was unable to comment.

On February 23, 2019, the body of 3-year-old Lachlan Paul Graham Jones was found in the ponds after he went missing from his home on Salford St.

WorkSafe and police both launched investigations.

The following day Parry said extra fencing and higher gates, about 1.8 metres high, had been installed around the entrance to the oxidation pond.

In March, a health and safety report was tabled at a council meeting. It said the council’s insurance company had engaged Garth Galloway, a health and safety law specialist based in Christchurch, to assist with the investigation. It also said Galloway visited the council’s office and the site on February 19.

In June, WorkSafe issued improvement notices to the council, saying it was contravening a provision of the act or regulations under the act.

In July, police said they were not laying any charges and the death had been referred to the coroner.

The council began fencing the ponds in November. Parry said this would cost about $65,000.