New Zealand’s logging industry’s safety record is in the spotlight again after one man died and another lost a leg in two accidents within 24 hours at opposite ends of the country. Sources: AAP, Radio New Zealand
On Monday, 51-year-old Nicholas David McKenzie died while processing logs close to a digger at a rural property in Orepuki, about 60km west of Invercargill.
His death was followed on Tuesday by an accident near the Northland settlement of Broadwood in which a male forestry worker had to have his leg amputated below the knee.
He is in a stable condition in Whangarei Hospital. The incident has been referred to health and safety inspectors from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
McKenzie is the seventh forestry worker to die on the job this year in New Zealand.
MBIE put forestry companies on notice to improve worker safety or face prosecution after the sixth death of the year, that of a Tokoroa man in Kinleith Forest, north of Taupo, in July.
The Council of Trade Unions is seeking an inquiry into safety in the forestry industry.
