A forestry consultant business has been fined after it failed to fully audit the safety plans of its contractor - an oversight that was picked up during an investigation into the death of a forestry worker.

Tree Awareness Management Ltd (TAML) admitted to a breach of its duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act after Nathan Paikea died while working in a forestry block in the Tututawa Forest near Stratford, Taranaki, in August 2019.

According to Safetree, which provides health and safety information for the plantation forest industry, Paikea was a 45-year-old father and retired member of the Kaingaroa volunteer fire department.

It said that at the time of his death, Paikea was clear-felling on a steep slope.

His body was found by his colleagues after he missed a scheduled call-in, it said.

TAML appeared in New Plymouth District Court for sentencing in March and Judge Raoul Neave reserved his decision, which was released last week.

In the decision, the judge made clear that TAML had in no way caused or contributed to the death of Paikea.

“It can never be forgotten that although Mr Paikea’s death was the background to this investigation and charge, it is not linked in any way to the breaches to which TAML has pleaded guilty.”

While the forest block is owned by Tututawa Trees Ltd, TAML managed it and had engaged another company to harvest its standing timber which then in turn sub-contracted Paikea.

In its role, TAML was required to ensure the company it had contracted had in place a documented safety management system before commencing operations and was required to periodically audit the effectiveness of the system.

But on multiple visits to the site, TAML did not check whether the company’s observations of its workers were being carried out, whether the crew was self-auditing, or the health and safety paperwork.

In his decision, Judge Neave said the forestry industry was well known for its potential dangers to those working within it.

 “Frequently accidents occur which have fatal consequences,” he said.

“As a result, there is a very detailed regime with checks and balances designed, as far as practicable, to eliminate the risks to those working in that industry.”

Judge Neave said that to some extent the case involved the age-old question: “Who watches the watchers.

“The prosecution [WorkSafe] say this was TAML’s job and it failed properly to do so.”

In his assessment of the case, the judge ruled it was a “small level of failure of oversight in respect of a company [TAML] that had proper systems in place and which in its turn failed in this respect on relatively few occasions.

“Indeed while the record-keeping may have been less than satisfactory in a few instances, the actual compliance with safety seems to be high.”

After adopting a starting point of $40,000, Judge Neave gave TAML credit for its guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and otherwise good safety record, before imposing a fine of $26,000.

The business was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of $6821.

Another company is currently before the court in relation to the WorkSafe investigation into Paikea’s death.

Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a News Director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and has previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.