A New Zealand court has ordered an engineering firm to pay 80,000 dollars to a 28-year-old Indian worker after he sustained serious injuries following a fall from a construction site.
The Christchurch District Court fined Pegasus Engineering Limited on charges of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the contract worker was not harmed while working on its construction site at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology in New Zealand.
Judge Tony Couch fined the company 45,000 dollars and ordered it to pay 35,000 dollars to the unnamed Indian national, as emotional harm reparations, Stuff online reported.
The harness was "not fit for purpose" and the method of securing the lanyard was inadequate before his 4-metre fall, it said.
Worksafe New Zealand prosecutor Sarah Backhouse told the court there had been a lack of planning and task analysis, and no "induction" for the work the man was tasked to do when he had the fall.
Defence counsel Garth Galloway said it was not a systemic failure, but the accident resulted from a "series of failures which were to a large extent limited to this event".
The accident happened on August 29, 2014, when the man was working as a contracted welder at the building site. He had been assigned to help place and fasten steel plates on a 4m high walkway. He was using individual harnesses rather than having a safety net in case of falls.
When he fell 4 metre, he broke his wrists, arm and cheek bone, cut his chin, and had extensive nose bleeding. He later reported injuries to his back and knees, and a broken jaw.
