The tutor - who had not taught a tertiary course before - was employed to teach this basic pre-trade programme where students are primarily taught how to operate a chainsaw. Tree felling is not part of this course. Students usually take the course before starting a forestry apprenticeship.
On August 26, 2014 the students had completed the six week theory part of the course and were in their third week of the practical section. The firewood yard where lessons were usually taught had run out of wood so the lesson was held on a Marlborough farm.
The tutor discussed the hazards of the lesson with the students and filled out a hazard identification and assessment form. The students were told to stand near a van while the tutor manually felled the two trees. After that the students trimmed and cut the felled trees.
The tutor decided to fell a third tree which was 24m high, on a significant lean and with a large branch jutting out the back. The students were standing closer to the tree than they should have been - the tutor was aware of this. The tutor asked one of the students to "spot" for him while he made a cut in the tree. The tutor then inadvertently cut the 'hingewood' of the tree and when the final cut was made, the tree fell in an unintended direction, crushing him.
WorkSafe New Zealand's investigation identified a number of health and safety breaches.
"Waiariki Institute of Technology should have assessed the tutor's competence in tree felling before he taught any classes," WorkSafe's Chief Inspector of Assessments in the Central region Jo Pugh.
"They also should have provided a written process for tutors on how to source wood safely and on when tree felling could occur."
"Waiariki Institute of Technology has reviewed its policies since the incident, sent all tutors a copy of the best practice guidelines for tree felling and had tutors attend a refresher course on tree felling
"But this serious incident could have been avoided if simple safety steps had been in place in the first instance."
Waiariki's chief executive, Professor Margaret Noble, said that looking after the staff member and students involved had been her paramount concern and Waiariki will be doing all it can to avoid any future accidents.
"Prior to this accident, Waiariki had had no serious forestry accidents, despite teaching Forestry Operations for nearly 30 years and in many different locations. We have been working closely with WorkSafe, not only during the investigation, but also in reviewing and revising our health and safety policies generally, including our policy around tree felling.
"We are also ensuring our forestry tutors hold the necessary Unit Standards and we are undertaking refresher health and safety training for all our staff. We applaud WorkSafe on their thorough investigation and we will be adopting all of their recommendations".
WorkSafe's chief executive, Gordon MacDonald, last year referred to the challenges facing the forestry industry, that there needs to be "comprehensive, integrated action by all participants in the sector, including the regulator". This is a position that Waiariki also maintains and supports.
The most recent data shows that the forestry sector is over represented in the statistics of work place serious harm injuries and fatalities in New Zealand. Waiariki acknowledges the high level of risk in the forestry sector here in New Zealand and says it is committed to ensuring it provides the best possible practical training environment and that the forestry workers it trains know how to stay safe.
