Convicted after 11th-hour plea

Taupo-based based M&A Cross Ltd have pleaded guilty to failing to provide forestry worker Charlie Findlay with safety gear after he was killed in an accident.

How Charlie Finlay came to be struck and killed by a log is unclear but his employers have pleaded guilty to not providing him with a hi-vis jacket for his safety.

Taupo-based based M&A Cross Ltd entered the 11th-hour plea in the Rotorua District Court yesterday.

The company had been scheduled to be tried at a judge-alone hearing scheduled to run for five days. It was initially charged with five breaches of the Health & Safety Act. However the remaining charges were dropped when the company admitted not taking all practicable steps to ensure Mr Finlay's safety by failing to provide him with safety clothing and making sure that he was wearing it.

The prosecution was brought by Helen Margaret Kelly, on behalf of the Council of Trade Unions.

Judge Phillip Cooper convicted M&A Cross Ltd and remanded the company for sentencing on October 2. He noted Mr Finlay's family and the company were willing to take part in a restorative justice programme. He also called for victim impact statements.

Mr Finlay, a father of four, including twin daughters, died in the early hours of July 19, 2013.

According to a Summary of Facts released by Judge Cooper, the 45-year-old was a loader operator in the Taumata Forest, Kinleith.

On the day he died he'd started work about 4.45am in an area known as a skid, (where logs are loaded on to trucks).

As well as not wearing a hi-viz jacket, he didn't have a hard hat on - his was found at his loader after his death.

The summary described how Mr Finlay walked across the skid to speak to another loader operator who was loading a three-bay truck. This process involved the loader's boom swinging in an arc towards the front of the truck.

When the conversation ended, Mr Finlay walked off into the dark.

He was at the back of the truck's trailer when a 4.3m long log, weighing 50kg, struck and killed him.

"How Mr Finlay was struck is unclear," the summary said, adding the log was found near his body.

Members of Mr Finlay's family were in court for the guilty plea but declined to comment until after sentencing. No company representatives were present and the company was represented by Andy Hill, acting for a firm of Auckland solicitors.

The CTU was represented by Tim Braithwaite on behalf of Nigel Hampton QC.

In a statement released after the hearing, the CTU said it had taken the prosecution against the company because the then Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (now WorkSafe) failed to do so within the prescribed six-months time frame.

An inquest into Mr Finlay's death is one of several deferred by Bay of Plenty coroner, Dr Wallace Bain, until outstanding CTU prosecutions of forestry companies involved in fatalities are completed.