01.12.2011

Three charged in Telehandler fatality

New Zealand’s department of labour has charged three ‘parties’ following the death of a Filipino man, who was crushed when a telehandler with work platform overturned.

The machine was being used to carry out line work for Transpower at the Makara wind farm site near Oteranga Bay on Wellington's south coast. Another man was also injured in the incident.

The three unnamed parties were each charged with breaching the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. Each faces a maximum fine of $250,000. The court date has yet to be set.

The two men were part of a team of four replacing overhead wires, Edwin Sarmiento, 42, died at the scene, while Antonio Maniago, 34, suffered broken legs and serious chest injuries.
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The overturned machine

Their employer, Electrix had won a supreme award for workplace health and safety, sponsored by the department of labour, only hours before the incident. The awards covered Electrix's initiatives to improve the health of its staff through a gym programme and for cutting the risk of electric shocks to employees working on live overhead power lines.

The department of labour’s southern general manager Jean Martin said: “employers and people in control of workplaces must provide a safe work environment. Unfortunately this message is not getting through as there are too many people being killed at work."

"Our responsibility in this case is to identify the cause of the accident, what could have been done to prevent it and how to avoid similar accidents in the future".
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