Worksafe prosecution adjourned until next year

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A Worksafe prosecution relating to the death of an East Coast log truck driver has been adjourned part heard for completion next year.

A judge-alone trial began in Gisborne District Court about 10 days ago but the prosecution case is still incomplete.

Yesterday (subs: Wed Oct 29) Judge Warren Cathcart scheduled re commencement of the hearing beginning February 29 for another 10 days.

Worksafe alleged local log truck operator Beau Thompson Limited and Hawke Equipment - another local company to which it subcontracted, are liable for the death of Dallas Wayne Hickey, 51, last Feburary.

Mr Hickey, an experienced driver, was on his first day transporting logs for Beau Thompson Limited when he was found on Ihungia Road about 8.15am fatally injured under the rear wheels of the loaded rig.

He was about seven kilometres from the skid site where the truck was loaded.

The day before the accident, Mr Hickey noticed one of the truck’s indicators was not working and had been instructed by James Walter Beau Thompson to take the truck to his company’s workshop. It is understood Mr Hickey received some induction while there.

Worksafe claimed the truck driven by Mr Hickey was under-maintained and any induction was insufficient.

It charged Mr Thompson and Hawke Equipment with failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of Mr Hickey and that no harm would come to him. The charges were alternatively laid to cover whether Mr Hickey was working either as an employee or a contractor at the time.

But counsel Paul White for the defendants has indicated already to the court that he considered the investigation after the accident “a shambles”.

Had it have been conducted appropriately none of the charges would have been laid, Mr White said.

The prosecution would now have to show the defendants dealings with Mr Hickey were actually failures and a causative link to his death.

It would also have to show that Mr Hickey was actually engaged to do work in a particular capacity for the defendants on the day of his death, Mr White said.