No-one will know what led orchard worker and grandfather Falaniko Ah Lin to drive a cherry picker into a 33,000 volt overhead power line.
Ah Lin, known as ‘Niko’, was electrocuted on an orchard near Napier on the afternoon of October 17, 2019.
Coroner Heidi Wrigley has released her findings into Ah Lin’s death, saying she was unable to determine the cause of the accident.
While Wrigley said she largely accepted the findings of a WorkSafe investigation, she did not share its conclusion that Ah Lin’s death resulted from any failure by him to take reasonable care.
“I have been unable to determine the cause of this accident but note the possibility of distraction and him experiencing a medical event,” she said.
Ah Lin, 57, was employed by a contractor and was working with a co-worker at Waimea Orchard on the day he died.
The pair were using cherry pickers to install hail nets over fruit trees.
The motorised cherry pickers they used had three wheels and a boom with a platform or ‘bucket’, within which the operator stands and operates the machine using foot pedals.
Ah Lin was an experienced cherry picker operator.
Before starting work that day, Ah Lin and his co-worker were given a safety briefing in which their attention was drawn to the 33,000 volt overhead power lines that ran above part of the orchard.
Ah Lin and his co-worker were told that they must not enter the area close to the overhead power lines, and must ensure the cherry picker’s boom was lowered when it got close to the lines. They were also told that there needed to be a safety observer to ensure the cherry picker didn’t get too close to the power lines.
Ah Lin was supervised while netting was installed on the first row of trees and was observed to follow the safety protocol.
After the pair had installed netting over five rows of fruit trees, the co-worker asked Ah Lin to take a roll of netting to the part of the orchard beneath the power lines.
When the co-worker was later interviewed by WorkSafe he said he told Ah Lin to “watch out for the wires” and that Ah Lin replied “Yes I know”.
Ah Lin then drove the cherry picker without lowering the boom in the direction of the power lines.
The co-worker told police he yelled out to Ah Lin three or four times but Ah Lin did not look at him, or stop the cherry picker.
A WorkSafe investigation found that Ah Lin either came into direct contact with the power lines, or came so close to them that electricity was able to arc from the lines to the cherry picker.
Ah Lin was electrocuted at 4.08pm. He died almost immediately.
The WorkSafe investigation found no evidence that the orchard or Ah Lin’s employer had failed in their duties under the Safety and Work Act 2015.
The investigators concluded that it was unknown why Ah Lin drove into the power lines, but said he knew a safety observer was needed and had performed the same manoeuvre many times before.
WorkSafe said the Act required workers to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and “unfortunately, in this case, this requirement does not appear to have been met”.
“The person that had the most control of their actions at the time was ultimately [Ah Lin] who failed to take reasonable care,” the investigation said.
Coroner Wrigley noted a post-mortem found Ah Lin had severe coronary disease that could have resulted in a medical event with debilitating effects such as light-headedness or collapse, and this could account for his failure to lower the boom or stop the cherry picker.
Ah Lin’s sister-in-law said he had migrated from Samoa with his wife and children and he was a hard working man whose priority was to provide for them and ensure his children got the best education they could.
Ah Lin and his wife had seven children and three grandchildren at the time of his death.
Ah Lin’s GP said he had no mental health history, and the coroner found his death had not been suicide.
Wrigley said she was satisfied that the cherry picker did not come into contact with the power lines, but said she was unable to determine whether Ah Lin, who stood higher than the top edge of the bucket, came into contact with the power lines.
She said Ah Lin’s burnt cell phone was found on the ground and service provider data showed he had made an unsuccessful call six minutes prior to being electrocuted.
Ah Lin could have been distracted by using his cell phone, which would explain why he didn’t respond to his co-worker’s yelling and why he failed to follow safety protocol, Wrigley said.
She also found that because Ah Lin had changed his task from installing the netting to moving a roll of netting, he may have either consciously or subconsciously departed from the safe system of work.
Wrigley said the evidence could not lead her to find which of distraction, a medical event or the consequences of changing task was an explanation for Ah Lin’s death.
“However, I am satisfied that this failure was accidental,” she said.
Power lines must be 6.5 metres above ground level. One of the three power lines was hanging 5cm lower than that, but Wrigley said she couldn’t conclude that contributed to Ah Lin’s death, and that he “may well have been electrocuted regardless of that under hang”.
It was noted that several WorkSafe guidelines were not followed. These included the lack of barriers such as cones or tape to make an exclusion zone around the power lines, Ah Lin’s use of his cell phone, and the fact there was no-one whose sole task was to act as an observer.
But, Wrigley said, if Ah Lin had been experiencing a medical event these guidelines would be ineffective.
She found that Ah Lin’s death was not reasonably preventable.
“I have been unable to determine the cause of this accident but note the possibilities of distraction and him experiencing a medical event,” he said.
One of the directors of Waimea Orchard told the coroner that a change in law was needed to increase the minimum height of power lines to at least 9 metres.
The orchard had at its own expense raised the power lines that cross its orchard since Ah Lin’s death to at least 9 metres.
Wrigley made no recommendation in this respect, but agreed with WorkSafe’s view that the risk presented by power lines was unique to each site and elimination or mitigation measures need to be tailored to the site and activities being undertaken there.
Source: Stuff News
