Ladder fall victim's private prosecution after WorkSafe refused to charge

Friday, 29 March 2019

The man critically injured in a workplace accident in Grenada North is taking his own prosecution. (File photo)

A man seriously injured at work in a fall from a ladder is privately prosecuting businesses at the site.

Jayden Rickard-Simms, who is in his early 20s, spent two weeks in intensive care after the April 20, 2016, fall and is still affected nearly three years later.

Justice Francis Cooke dismissed a challenge to the filing of documents starting the prosecution. (File)

WorkSafe investigated but refused to take action against the businesses so Rickard-Simms has stepped into court when Worksafe would not.

He has started a private prosecution against Goodman Fielder NZ and Hall's Refrigerated Transport which leased and sub-leased the Grenada North warehouse where Rickard-Simms was working as an apprentice refrigeration technician for Engie Services NZ.

Jayden Rickard-Simms doesn't remember the fall. (File photo)

* Worker who fell from ladder in critical condition in Wellington Hospital

* Worker injured in Grenada North ladder fall still in intensive care

* Safety taken to new heights**

All three companies are accused of offences under health and safety law, in papers Rickard-Simms filed in the Porirua District Court.

The prosecution passed the first hurdle of having a District Court judge accept the charging documents.

And now Rickard-Simms has overcome an attempt by the companies to review the decision to accept the documents.

A judge at the High Court in Wellington has dismissed their attempt to stop the prosecution almost before it begins.

Justice Francis Cooke said there may be a range of reasons why a regulator such as WorkSafe decided not to prosecute.

But the person injured wanted to bring a private prosecution and the material that had been filed indicated there was a reason, based on allegations that there were inadequate procedures in place at the site for dealing with the movement of various employees.

It was suspected that a forklift being driven in and out of the chiller room in which Rickard-Simms was working had clipped the ladder.

A forklift driver's initial statement supported the allegation. It was technically a secondhand account that was unlikely to be used in itself but the forklift driver could be called as a witness at the prosecution, the judge said.

Rickard-Simms was on a seven-step ladder spraying warm water to defrost a refrigeration unit on the ceiling. The ladder was next to chiller room entry where forklifts came and went to shift stock.

The judge said a driver told WorkSafe that he tooted the horn of the forklift at the curtained entry, and as he drove forward he saw a blur of movement, stopped, and found the overturned ladder and Rickard-Simms on the ground.

The judge rejected suggestions that the District Court had to give reasons for accepting the documents for filing and had failed to consider the position of each proposed defendant separately.

The prosecution has been on hold awaiting the High Court's decision.