Nicole Rosie

WorkSafe NZ is concerned about a rising number of deaths in the forestry industry after Tuesday’s fatal accident in which a bulldozer crashed off a steep Wellington bank, killing its driver. This year’s total death toll reached six when the vehicle crashed down an 80-metre drop in Makara, on Wellington’s west coast. While that is fewer than the 2013 high of 10 deaths, it is an increase of two on 2016, and three on 2015. The death of a digger driver on Wellington’s west coast on Tuesday takes the forestry industry’s death toll to six, two more than last year’s total. In previous years, the causes of forestry deaths generally involved tree-felling, WorkSafe chief executive Nicole Rosie said.​ However, half of this year’s deaths have involved being in or around machinery.