Family of worker killed on job not happy with investigation - a podcast by RNZ

The brother of a forester killed on the job says his brother gave up a fishing trip to keep felling trees because he knew crews were relying on him.
Walter Collier was a top-performing tree faller, killed in January 2020 in a forest near Gisborne.
He was 56.
A coroner's finding says the last tree he cut had been badly twisted in high winds.
The twisting causes pressure in the trunk and when it's cut, an explosion of energy is released which can tear the tree apart.
Walter Collier made very uncharacteristic mistakes in the cut, and the tree was destroyed by the tremendous release of pressure. He was trapped and killed by the debris.
No one saw it happen.
The trees damaged by wind could have been felled by machine, and eventually this is how the rest were removed.
The findings said the risks had been fully and properly assessed by the employer Eastside Logging and that ultimately Collier was rightly placed as the decision-maker on how to approach the risks.
But his brother Hilton Collier, the general manager of Pakihiroa Farms, told RNZ reporter Phil Pennington the wh?nau have misgivings about the findings - and he was frustrated by the entire Worksafe investigation.
Worksafe was approached for comment. RNZ was unable to contact Walter Collier's employer Eastside Logging.
The coroner noted how the forest's owner Ernslaw increased what it was paying Eastside after the death, to help it buy a mechanised feller - and that Ernslaw was supporting all its contractors to move towards mechanised tree felling.

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