The double garage at the James' house at Pyes Pa Rd was lifted and blown all over the backyard in a "mini tornado". Photo / File
The double garage at the James' house at Pyes Pa Rd was lifted and blown all over the backyard in a "mini tornado". Photo / File
MAY: A seasonal labour shortage was officially declared in the Bay of Plenty for the first time in more than a decade, as the kiwifruit industry came under pressure from a "perfect storm" of factors.
On May 7, the Ministry of Social Development said the region needed an additional 1200workers to pick and pack a bumper kiwifruit crop over the next month.
An additional 1200 workers were needed. Photo / File
Industry groups and businesses said the labour shortage was the worst in years and a lack of available workers - especially backpackers and international students - was to blame, not pay rates.
The ministry's regional commissioner, Mike Bryant, said the declaration made it easier for overseas people on visitors visas to come and work in the Bay of Plenty.
OceanaGold was ordered to pay $728,000 in fines and reparation over the death of a worker at its Waihi underground gold mine.
Tipiwai Stainton, 27, died in the company's Correnso mine on July 28, 2016, when the loader he was driving fell 15m off a vertical edge into a void, fatally injuring him.
In a Tauranga District Court hearing in March, the court heard the death was the first mining fatality in New Zealand since Pike River.
OceanaGold pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, a single charge brought by Worksafe under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 of failing to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of Stainton, exposing him to the risk of death.
The charge carried a maximum fine of $1.5 million.
Judge Thomas Ingram's sentencing decision was released on May 9.
He found Stainton was building a safety barrier - a 1.5m high bund - in front of a steep slope to stop vehicles falling, when his loader fell.
The judge said the company had identified the risk the slope posed.
"In the course of addressing that hazard, the employee was killed by the very hazard he was sent to address."
The practice of building a bund was industry standard and mine inspectors had never raised concerns about it before.
Judge Thomas said OceanaGold's handling of the aftermath of Stainton's death was "exemplary" and praised its efforts to alleviate the family's suffering and prevent the accident from recurring.
He said the company paid the family $200,000, helped with tangi costs and shut down the mine for a week after the death for cultural and safety reasons at a cost of more than $1m.
Tipiwai Stainton, 27, died while working in the Correnso underground mine in Waihi in July 2016. Photo / File
