A forestry company must invest in forestry road safety research after a truck driver was killed when his vehicle and trailer rolled while navigating a Coromandel forestry road.
Greg Stevens, 59, died after his logging truck rolled as he tried to negotiate a tight bend on a road that was part of a wood lot harvest operation run by Forest360 Limited on May 27, 2023.
Stevens was subcontracting for the company when his nine-axle truck-and-trailer unit, fully loaded with logs, left the road and rolled down a bank.
Stevens was fatally injured.
A WorkSafe investigation found that Forest360’s design, maintenance, and risk assessment of the road were “inadequate”.
As a result of the investigation, the company offered to enter an enforceable undertaking, which WorkSafe agreed to.
An enforceable undertaking is an agreement between WorkSafe and a company. The company enters into it following a breach of health and safety law. The agreements are legally binding and monitored by WorkSafe.
The agreement between Forest 360 and WorkSafe comprised an investment of over $400,000.
The money would be used to research and develop a method to assess forestry road safety, sponsor software development to help forest owners and operators identify unsafe road conditions, promote the software and share insights with the forestry sector, and donate to education programmes.
The company will also have to pay amends to Stevens’ widow.
“Many forestry roads in New Zealand are old and potentially unsafe, having been built decades ago to outdated engineering standards,” WorkSafe’s head of regulatory services, Tracey Conlon, said.
“The software development has the potential to transform how forestry roads are assessed for safety. By making cutting-edge technology accessible across the industry, Forest360’s initiatives could significantly reduce risk and save lives.”
Forest360’s managing director, Dan Gaddum, said the company “deeply regrets” Stevens’ death.
“Our thoughts remain with his family, colleagues, and community. We take our responsibilities for contractor safety management extremely seriously, and this incident has strengthened our resolve to lead improvement across the industry,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s less about dwelling on what went wrong, and more about doing something meaningful to stop it happening again.”
He said the enforceable undertaking aimed to “deliver safer outcomes for everyone working in and around our forests, and to share what we learn to lift safety performance across the wider sector”.
Two other businesses remain before the court over Stevens’ death.
