Crushed dad not at fault - coroner

Walter Crosa's widow Robyn Crosa and their children Graciela, Michel, Jazmin, Daniel and Javier. Photo / Joel Ford

A Port of Tauranga contract worker, who died from severe crush injuries after he was run over by a grader, cannot be blamed for the accident which was "at best... a misunderstanding", says Tauranga's coroner.

Dr Wallace Bain released his findings into the death of 49-year-old father-of-five Walter Daniel Crosa who was struck by a reversing grader on August 15, 2011 after an inquest in May.

Mr Crosa, a Fulton Hogan contractor, had been working on a large outdoor site at the Port with fellow worker Tawa Blake laying string lines.

The court heard evidence that he was seen to stumble backwards 2m or 3m into the path of the reversing grader and got his foot caught underneath one of the rear tyres of the grader.

Attempts were made by work colleagues to stop the grader driver from reversing but by the time he was alerted the rear tyre of the grader had driven over his body and on to Mr Crosa's chest.

Mr Crosa did not know the area may have been strung earlier and Fulton Hogan denied he had been instructed to complete stringing in the live bay area where he was run over.

Pathologist Dr Fintan Garavan said a limited autopsy was done and a failure to examine the head would not rule out the possibility of a tumour affecting Mr Crosa's hearing or eyesight.

WorkSafe NZ investigated and found no breach of Health and Safety in the Employment Act by Fulton Hogan.

The Crosa family raised concerns there should have been someone supervising in the area and said there were no clear parameters for safe stringing but Dr Bain found no evidence to support this view.

The family's lawyer Genevieve Denize told the court Mr Crosa was "a very methodical and safety conscious individual" who had been attempting to a do a perfect job.

Dr Bain said: "It is the court's view that Mr Crosa was in that bay completing his work task because he thought he was supposed to be there doing it. No fault can be sheeted home to him and at best it is a misunderstanding. The court accepts Fulton Hogan's rule that there is to be no work and the restricting of no stringing, in live plants."

"The Court agrees with Mrs Crosa that her husband would not place himself in a position of extreme danger. We do not know precisely why he was where he was at the time he died, but the court agrees with the family's view that he was 'quite pedantic in the way he organised himself'."

Dr Bain said he did not consider any specific recommendations needed to be made but noted more modern communication technology was now available, and would be used in work places such as this where there was background noise wherever appropriate.

Mr Crosa's widow said: "It is very important that people never forget the husbands and fathers who go off to work to earn a living for their family and never return home. They no longer have a voice but it is vitally important that workplace safety is taken very seriously by everyone, both employers and employees alike."