Zespri to pay after quad death
Zespri has voluntarily paid $250,000 towards safety measures following the death of an orchard worker in a quad bike accident, including $25,000 to the family of the worker.
WorkSafe accepted what is called an ‘‘enforceable undertaking’’ - an alternative to a prosecution - from the kiwifruit cooperative. Three other parties have been charged with the death which occurred on a Tauranga orchard last year in May.
They include a contracting company, the grower and a packhouse. This case is one of the first multi-party prosecutions undertaken by WorkSafe, and the fourth enforceable undertaking accepted. Zespri has pledged to fund measures to improve safety, ranging from health and safety reviews of contractors, education, industry-wide research, sponsoring and promoting the Horticultural Health and Safety Forum, and establishing a tertiary scholarship for accredited health and safety studies. The accident occurred when a worker was collecting samples of kiwifruit to check whether they were mature or not. WorkSafe alleged Zespri failed to ensure the safety of the worker, who was an employee of AgFirst Bay of Plenty. Zespri had contracted AgFirst to carry out the maturity sampling.
WorkSafe said Zespri had failed to design and implement an effective system to ensure orchard maps produced by growers and supplied to AgFirst recorded potential hazards, including those posed to the maturity sample collectors. It had also failed to ensure the workers received an induction at each orchard site pointing out potential hazards including steep terrain.
Zespri has also offered to convene a restorative justice conference with the worker’s family.
At the conference senior representatives will take responsibility for Zespri’s part in the alleged contraventions.
Zespri chief operating officer, Simon Limmer said Zespri had an important role to play in promoting health and safety given its central function in the kiwifruit industry.
WorkSafe’s Simon Humphries, said the decision to accept the enforceable undertaking was appropriate when considering all the circumstances of this case. He said the measures proposed by Zespri would provide long-term health and safety improvements.
The family of the worker had been contacted and were satisfied with the outcome. The victim’s daughter was supportive of an enforceable undertaking as an alternative to a prosecution.