Fourth death impacts forestry

A FOURTH DEATH IN JUST THREE MONTHS has forestry officials concerned as the industry prepares to gather in Rotorua for a major safety summit.

The latest victim, Shannon Omlo, 31, was critically injured in an incident off Trass Valley Road, near Nelson last month. He was flown to hospital by helicopter but died shortly after. No other details were available as NZ Logger went to print

WorkSafe is investigating and had only just opened an inquiry into the death of another man near Bulls in the lower North Island a week earlier.

Severe weather is thought to have played a major part in the Bulls incident, where a crew was preparing to leave the forest for safety reasons as conditions deteriorated. A sudden squall blew a tree onto a ute, killing the man and seriously injuring another.

These two July deaths followed hard on the heels of two in May.

The first involved a 43-year-old who sub-contracted to his brother’s business, specialising in logging/sawmill and tree removal. He was falling a shelter belt in the Awatere Valley, in Marlborough and as he cut one felled tree, he was struck from behind by a falling dead spar from an adjacent tree and died at the scene. His body was discovered hours later by a log truck driver.

Meanwhile, a 66-year-old working in the Opouteke Forest, near Dargaville, was hit by a reversing ute on the side of a forestry road next to a container used as an office and store. He was airlifted to hospital but later died.

These deaths will be on delegates’ minds when the 2018 Forestry Safety Conference opens in Rotorua on August 8.