Jeremy Haldane pictured on the day of an accident where he was crushed by timber framing, leaving him permanently injured. Photo / Supplied
Jeremy Haldane pictured on the day of an accident where he was crushed by timber framing, leaving him permanently injured. Photo / Supplied
Two building companies have been ordered to pay more than $170,000 in fines and reparation after an Auckland apprentice was severely injured.
Jeremy Haldane, 17, was crushed by a 400kg piece of timber roof framing in November 2017, while working on a new build in Albany Heights.
The monster framelanded on his shoulders and back after he and two other apprentices attempted to lift it - bursting his second to last vertebrae and fracturing five others.
He spent a couple of weeks in hospital and then the next couple of months on crutches.
However, even now he can't stand or walk for long periods, and is recovering from a second major surgery.
The tall frame on the right outer edge of the building was involved in the incident. Photo / Supplied
His employer, Just Brilliant Ltd and Ikon Homes NZ Ltd, were both charged by WorkSafe NZ with failing to ensure the health and safety of workers at work in the business or undertaking, namely erecting timber frames.
WorkSafe said that failure exposed the workers to a risk of death or serious injury, namely crushing by timber frames.
The companies were both sentenced in the North Shore District Court last Thursday.
Just Brilliant Limited was fined $70,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $10,891.60 - in addition to a voluntary payment of $20,000 already paid to the victim.
It was also ordered to undertake a specified work project within 15 months of sentencing. This requires the company to give safety seminars and publish an article in industry magazines educating others about the lessons to be learned from this case.
Jeremy Haldane, 20, of Auckland, pictured in December 2018 after his accident. Photo / Supplied
Ikon Homes NZ Limited was fined $65,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $20,595.01.
The Court also ordered $8000 as a contribution to WorkSafe's costs was also made.
On Thursday, Haldane told the Herald, while he had a long road to recovery, he didn't want to see either of the companies handed down massive fines in court.
However, he did want to see them improve their health and safety procedures so it didn't happen to anyone again, and a change in culture in the building industry so it's not so intimidating for young workers to speak up and ask for help.
"There needs to be a point where somebody in the line says, there's two high frames here, they're too heavy for the boys to lift, we need a crane and they can organise that ahead of time," he said.
"All I'm concerned about is what happens in their business and the industry from here on out.
"I would really like both of them to make quite dramatic changes to their health and safety protocols."
He would also like there to be compulsory "toolbox meetings" each morning so everybody had an idea of what the day had in store and any possible obstacles they might face.
"Just take five minutes, 10 minutes, toolbox meeting. If we had have done that we [would] have figured out that frame would have been too big."
His hope of being a builder is now dashed, but he still wants to remain in the industry so he hopes to retrain in either quantity surveying or project management.
