Gore District Council charged after child drowns in wastewater ponds
Tuesday, 10 March 2020
The Gore District Council has been charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 after a three-year-old boy drowned in its wastewater ponds.
A WorkSafe spokesperson said it had completed its investigation following an incident at the ponds in 2019.
The council has been charged under sections 37(1) and 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
Council chief executive Steve Parry said he was unable to make any comment while the matter was before the court.
**READ MORE:
* Council fences wastewater ponds following drowning of three year old
* The ups and downs of the Gore District Council's term
* No police charges after child drowns in Gore District Council wastewater pond
* WorkSafe issues Improvement Notices to Gore District Council after child drowns in pond
* Gore District Council's insurance company hires lawyer after child dies in oxidation ponds**
On February 23, 2019, the body of Lachlan Paul Graham Jones was found in the ponds after a search after he went missing from his home on Salford St.
WorkSafe and police both launched investigations.
The following day Parry said extra fencing and higher gates, about 1.8 metres high, had been installed around the entrance to the oxidation pond where WorkSafe had been investigating.
In March, a Health and Safety Report from the council's human resources manager Susan Jones, which was tabled at a council meeting, said the council's insurance company had engaged Garth Galloway, a health and safety law specialist based in Christchurch, to assist the council with the investigation.
The report says Galloway visited the council's office and the site on February 19.
In June, WorkSafe issued Improvement Notices to the council, saying the council was contravening a provision of the Health and Safety at Work Act or regulations under the act.
In July, police said they were not laying any charges and the death had been referred to the coroner.
The council began fencing the wastewater ponds in November, which Parry said would cost about $65,000.
The wastewater ponds are located on Grasslands Rd, at the southern end of the town, and surrounded by farmland.
The closest houses are about 400 metres away on Salford St, which borders the southern end of the Gore A&P Showgrounds.