The three men who were killed when hit by a truck while working on the road at State Highway 2 near Matatā in February 2019. Photo / Supplied
The three men who were killed when hit by a truck while working on the road at State Highway 2 near Matatā in February 2019. Photo / Supplied
It's been 12 months since three Rotorua men lost their lives in a Matatā culvert as they went about their day's work. We ask if any improvements have been made to ensure the safety of road workers so that the tragedy is not repeated.
One year on from the triplefatality at Matatā, WorkSafe has completed its investigation and charges have been laid.
WorkSafe would not disclose details about the charges because the matter is before the courts but construction firm Higgins yesterday confirmed WorkSafe had informed the company it would proceed with a prosecution regarding the deaths of three people near Whakatāne in February last year.
On February 26 last year, Higgins workers Haki Hiha, David Eparaima and Dudley Soul Raroa were killed when a truck veered off State Highway 2 at Matatā and shunted another truck that rolled into a culvert the three men were working in.
"While we are unable to comment in detail on a matter before the courts, we have been determined to learn from what happened, not only for the benefit of Higgins workers but for all organisations whose people work beside and on the roads each day, and for the travelling public.
"We have worked closely with our teams, with WorkSafe and with the regulator NZTA following this event and are determined that all lessons learned will be shared widely across the industry.
"We have put in place a number of additional safety initiatives for our road workers and worked with industry and NZTA to develop a training and competency model for temporary traffic management based on a formal risk management framework.
Emergency services at the crash on State Highway 2 near Matata last year. Photo / File
"This is a risk-based system that will help to keep those working on the roads, and the travelling public, safer.
"We can never bring back David, Haki and Soul but we can ensure that we work together to continuously improve the safety of our people and the environments they work in each day."
Four months after the deaths, Tauranga man David Cox was ordered to pay $21,000 emotional harm reparation, complete 250 hours' community work and was disqualified from driving for 21 months after earlier pleading guilty to three charges of careless driving causing death - a charge laid by police.
In the aftermath of the loss of life, Rotorua kaumatua Sir Toby Curtis, demanded a thorough investigation into the incident to "ensure it didn't happen again" and Whakatāne Mayor at the time, Tony Bonne, went into bat for a nationwide review of traffic management rules, preparing a remit document that was put before all national councils at Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) meeting last year.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency senior manager operational policy and planning Vanessa Browne said the safety of the men and women carrying out work on the road and the safety of road users were top priorities for the NZ Transport Agency when managing traffic through worksites.
"The fatalities at Matatā were a terrible tragedy," Browne said. "While we're not in a position to discuss any of the specific circumstances while the accident remains under investigation by WorkSafe, we will, of course, take all appropriate action in response to any recommendations resulting from that investigation."
Browne said the NZ Transport Agency's Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management (CoPTTM) provided advice for the safe and efficient management and operation of temporary traffic management (TTM) on all roads in New Zealand.
"The Transport Agency seeks to continually improve the code of practice and its application and prior to February 2019, the agency commenced the roll out an improved programme of training and associated competency assessments for all parties who are involved in the application of Temporary Traffic Management," Browne said.
"These improvements have included additional training modules that, once completed, will confirm the worker's ability to identify site-specific risks and the understanding of how to apply the appropriate traffic management measures to manage those risks have been assessed.
"Following the tragic events at Matatā in February last year, the Transport Agency issued a notice to all companies undertaking work on our behalf reinforcing the Transport Agency's expectation for the use of work activity and location-specific risk assessments and the associated use of the CoPTTM."
In response to the passing of the remit submitted by the former Whakatāne Mayor, LGNZ said it has engaged with NZTA and Civil Contractors NZ to support a road works site health and safety improvement programme.
"Councils around the country are concerned about the safety of both road works and road users, which is why they have asked LGNZ to advocate for improvement in this area," an LGNZ spokesman said.
"Responding to the remit that councils passed, LGNZ has engaged with NZTA and Civil Contractors NZ to develop a road works site health and safety programme.
"The new road works site health and safety programme has a number of goals, including to raise public awareness, improve industry practice, increase enforcement and review temporary traffic management processes.
"Responding to the remit that councils passed, LGNZ has engaged with NZTA and Civil Contractors NZ to develop a road works site health and safety programme.
"The new road works site health and safety programme has a number of goals, including to raise public awareness, improve industry practice, increase enforcement and review temporary traffic management processes."
