Palmerston North coroner Carla na Nagara has lent her support to calls for the compulsory fitting of seatbelts on tractors after finding a farm hand may have survived if he had been wearing one on a Marlborough farm last year.
Brian Hand, 45, was working at Craigneuk Farm in Seddon when he was thrown from his tractor and killed after it rolled down a hill.
He was an experienced farm hand, employed at the farm for almost all his working life.
The coroner found his death was the result of a tragic accident.
On April 14 Mr Hand took over working a paddock that one of his co-workers felt he could not manage due to the steepness of the terrain.