A logging company has been fined $60,000 after a worker suffered a fatal head injury on the job.
Sabre Logging Limited was sentenced this week following the incident in December 2017.
The worker was operating a skidder to haul logs from a hill in Makara, Wellington when one of the haul logs snapped.
When the worker went to reposition the skidder to free the log, the machine lost balance and rolled down the hill, leading to the worker's death.
In handing down the sentence in the Wellington High Court, the judge said a starting fine of $450,000 would be appropriate, however because the company is now insolvent that was reduced to $60,000.
Steve Kelly, WorkSafe's chief inspector, said there was no causative link between Sabre Logging's failings and the worker's death, however, the risk of the skidder rolling was not minimised.
An investigation found extraction tracks were not properly formed, with debris on one track and another was sloped on a reversed camber, Kelly said.
"The company also did not measure the gradient of the slope prior to work taking place and this was judged by experience only."
He said the company had previously been investigated by WorkSafe in 2013 after a worker suffered lacerations to head in a similar incident.
"The forestry industry is rightly considered to be high risk and rollovers are all too common in the field," said Kelly.
"A site specific hazard plan should have been implemented and reviewed daily, taking the changing terrain and gradient of the slope into account. This message should be heeded by all businesses working outdoors as the risk is not exclusive to forestry."
