The director of the forestry company that was guilty of safety breaches leading to the death of a Wanganui man is in a serious condition following an accident while tutoring a forestry class in the South Island.
Yesterday The Marlborough Express reported a 40-year-old man was cutting down an old man pine tree at a farm in Waihopai Valley on Tuesday when the accident happened.
Rotorua's Waiariki Institute of Technology confirmed to the Chronicle the man was Murray Clunie, who tutors forestry students in a course at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, which Waiariki run.
Last year Taupo-based Great Lakes Harvesting Ltd was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court for failing to take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of 23-year-old Reece Reid. Mr Clunie was the director of the company. Mr Reid died on November 27, 2012, when, while working unsupervised, a tree that had been cut but was resting on another tree fell and killed him.
The company was ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in fines and reparations to the family. Great Lakes Harvesting pleaded guilty.