School to face charges after death

The Auckland school whose boiler exploded, killing its caretaker, will face charges over the man's death.

Fairfax understands that Orewa College, north of Auckland, is to be charged today with failing to provide a healthy and secure workplace. The Department of Labour will lay the charge against the school's board of trustees under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

In June, Zimbabwe-born Richard Louis Nel received burns to 90 per cent of his body and later died in Middlemore Hospital after the coal-fired burner exploded.

Nel, who was married with adult children, had been at the school for less than a year.

A contractor working on the boiler, Robin Tubman, was severely injured in the blast, suffering a fractured skull and shattered facial bones. A third worker was uninjured but suffered shock.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Labour said yesterday she could not comment on the case because an investigation was still under way.

The school today said it would vigorously defend any charges.

Board of trustees chairman Phil Pickford said the school was aware the Labour Department was considering a prosecution against the board under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

The exact charge had not been confirmed to the school, but if one were laid, "we will defend it vigorously and rigorously".

Mr Pickford questioned the delay in the department's decision, noting that the deadline was about to be reached.

"On December 24 it will be six months since the tragedy and here we are at the 21st," he said.

"They have to prosecute within six months and they have left it to the last minute. Why? I could surmise why, but I'm sure there's another way they could have done it."

He said uncertainty over the issue had been unsettling for the school.

"At the end of the day, it was a tragedy," he said.

"Someone died and someone else was seriously injured, and the school would not have wished that on anyone."

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said the issue was an operational matter.

Under the law all employers – including schools – are required to maintain safe working environments and implement sound practices.

The Ministry of Education says boards of trustees must "take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of staff while at work".

The maximum penalty for serious harm under the legislation is a $500,000 fine and/or two years imprisonment.

According to the Labour Department's website, prosecutions are taken only where compliance cannot be gained otherwise, where there has been a deliberate or careless disregard for the safety and health of others, or where a prosecution is in the public interest.

- with NZPA

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