Indian man left paralysed after being hit by harvester on Karaka farm

The man was struck by a harvester used to collect pumpkin and squash. Photo / Babiche Martens

An Indian man was left "praying to God" for hours while he lay in the soil with a broken back.

The man, with name suppression, had been struck by a harvester used to collect pumpkin and squash.

Now a tetraplegic who needs 24-hour care, his former employer and boss have been ordered to pay $386,300.

On March 10, 2016 the man had been unloading the harvester from a truck in a remote location on the Karaka farm. After he was hit the Conifer Grove local lay undiscovered and unable to move for several hours.

He was left paralysed from the neck down and his wife has left her job to be his fulltime carer.

The man, who was working alone at the time, told Fairfax he was left drifting in and out of consciousness for around almost four hours on a Karaka farm.

"I praying to God ... I was praying that someone would reach me," he said.

His wife raised the alarm when the man didn't come home on time. His workmates later found him using the truck's GPS signal.

The man spent one month in Middlemore Hospital and another two months at the Auckland Spinal Rehabilitation Unit in Otara.

The ambitious worker is crestfallen his dreams to build his own business have been put on hold.

"I feel totally dependant on others ... I want to be looking after them but now they're having to look after me," he told Fairfax.

Horticulture company Wai Shing Ltd failed to mention the incident two weeks later when WorkSafe inspectors visited on an unrelated matter.

WorkSafe was only alerted to the incident nearly six months later by the victim's wife.

The company and its director Franklin Wai Shing were each charged under section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act for failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of their employee while at work.

In the Pukekohe District Court today, Wai Shing Ltd was fined $37,500, Wai Shing was fined $12,500, and reparations of $336,300 were ordered.

"Wai Shing Ltd hadn't followed basic health and safety management practices such as understanding and managing risks associated with using the harvester, despite using it since 1996," said WorkSafe general manager operations and specialist services, Brett Murray.

"In addition, the victim was inadequately trained in its use or transport and the company had no emergency plan to cover when a person is injured while working alone," Murray said.

The company was also charged under sections 25 and 26 after it failed in its duty to notify WorkSafe after the incident, disturbed the incident scene and continued using the harvester that injured the worker.