State-owned enterprise Kiwirail will appear before the Auckland District Court this week for allegedly failing to provide safer working conditions for staff and contractors.
Worksafe New Zealand has charged Kiwirail with four offences after three incidents between June and August last year. The company faces a maximum penalty of $500,000 according to NZME.
In June last year, an Downer employee digger driver Paul Anderson was critically injured while working on the Raurimu Spiral near Tongariro National Park. He was hit by a northbound freight train and suffered a serious brain injury as a result.
Less than a fortnight later a freight rain carrying logs collided with a wood chipper being used by Downer employees in Carterton. The contractor’s employees were trying to move the chipper from one side of the track to the other when it became stuck and was wiped out by the southbound train.
No one was injured in this incident.
On August 11, 2014 Kiwirail is also charged with the allegation that it had failed to take action to protect contractors working for Treescape Limited which “was likely to cause serious harm.”
An overnight freight train travelling north between Featherston and Masterton had to make an emergency stop to avoid hitting a digger and its driver which were on the tracks working on the rail bridge over the Tauherenikau river.
The train stopped about 150 meters from where the digger was at the time says Kiwirail.
According to NZME two of the charges before the court carry a maximum penalty of $250,000 while the others could result in a $500,000 fine.
