Coroner: Mum and young son's 'tragic' tractor death a lesson for rural sector
Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Nadine Tomlinson lost control of a tractor on her Otago farm, crashed into a pond and drowned – along with her 3-year-old son, who was with her in the cab. The rural sector has lessons to learn from the tragedy, a coroner's report has found.
It should have been a routine farm job.
Nadine Tomlinson was on her way to collect a dead animal on her 70-hectare beef and lamb farm at Palmerston, north of Dunedin, with her 3-year-old son, Angus, in the tractor cab with her. She needed to pick up a trailer parked at the top of an incline.
A tragedy was about to unfold.
**READ MORE:
* Traumatic tractor accident turns Michele Bastiaansen's life upside down
* Farm drowning tragedy: mum smashed tractor window with gumboot in bid to save son
* Public raises thousands for family after farm tragedy
* Farm deaths and injuries declining despite latest tragedy
* Man describes harrowing moment he realised his wife and son had been killed
**
Tomlinson, an experienced tractor driver, was driving a 2004 John Deere 6510 and had taken Angus because he loved the machines. She and husband Scott also had 18-month-old Samuel, and she was expecting a third child.
About 2pm on September 30, 2018, she and Angus were approaching a deep irrigation pond on the farm after picking up the trailer. They were travelling downhill towards a track around the pond.
Later investigation would show the tractor started skidding about 30m from the pond and did not stop. When Tomlinson’s husband Scott went to find his wife and son, he saw only a some fertiliser bags floating on the surface of the pond. He sounded the alarm.
Police divers recovered the bodies of Tomlinson and Angus from the seven metre-deep pond the next day. Nadine had got out of the tractor cab with her son, but had not been able to surface. Her shirt was snagged by a small cleat on the trailer.
The left door of the tractor cab had been removed by Tomlinson in her struggle to survive.
A report by Coroner Sue Johnson, released to Stuff this week, said the deaths were an accident and “absolutely tragic”.
WorkSafe New Zealand found no faults with the tractor, but all “duty holders” involved in the incident breached responsibility duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
In a report for the coroner, WorkSafe said the agricultural sector could learn from the accident. Since 2000, 42 children and young people under the age of 18 have died in workplace fatalities in the sector.
Johnson said police concluded the tractor had been travelling down the steep slope leading directly into the pond. The left tyre mark showed clear signs of skidding, indicating Tomlinson was braking as she descended the slope.
WorkSafe tests showed applying the single brake could cause the tractor to sledge. The brakes worked very well when both wheels were braked.
“With the left brake applied fully, it is likely that turning the tractor right would have been unachievable,” WorkSafe found.
The coroner said she believed Nadine Tomlinson became concerned at the speed the tractor was travelling as she descended the steep slope.
“Despite her extensive tractor driving experience it appears that she only applied the left-hand side brake pedal with the intention of turning right in the direction of the dead animal.
“However, this caused the tractor to sledge and continue tracking straight into the dam. The weight of the trailer may also have influenced the braking capability of the tractor.”
Scott Tomlinson had told WorkSafe he was in the process of replacing the tractor with one that had a secondary seat fitted to allow Angus and others to ride safely. Since the incident a new tractor had been purchased that had a secondary seat and seatbelt fitted.
He also installed a fence around the dam and had re-thought the risks he and Samuel were exposed to on the farm.
Coroner Johnson did not make any recommendations but endorsed the health and safety lessons in WorkSafe’s report.