Man who died after falling at Te Kūiti meatworks was not trained to use safety harness

A man who had a seizure and fell from a platform at a Te Kūiti meatworks had not been trained to use the safety harness.

This was revealed as Jared Te Whare’s family gathered in the Hamilton District Court on Friday – where UBP Meatworks was to be sentenced for a WorkSafe charge of exposing an individual to risk or harm.

“I’m angry this has happened when it could have been avoided,” his sister Carmin Te Whare told Judge Simon Menzies.

“Seeing him lying there dead – I felt like something died in me forever.”

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Jared had arrived at work sometime between 12pm and 3pm on February 11, 2020.

He was known to arrive before the beginning of his 3.30pm shift, and would help with the cleaning.

He was seen on the legging stand after being asked to go up the stairs and press a button that brought the carcasses through to be processed.

Jared had a seizure while on the platform and fell 2.3 metres. He was left with severe head and chest injuries and subsequently died.

Worksafe prosecutor Rachael Wood said there was unable to be a permanent railing on the legging stand due to potential contamination from the meat touching it.

The fall risk was instead managed with a harness system, she said.

People who needed to use the platform, including cleaners, were trained to use the harnesses and everyone else was excluded from accessing.

Jared had not been trained to use the harness to access the platform because it was not part of his job.

Wood said the person who asked Jared to access the legging stand was either not familiar with the policy, or not adhering to it.

Either supervision and enforcement was missing, or the policy was not widely understood, she said.

She said even though the seizure caused Jared to fall, the risk was still there and UBP Meatworks had a responsibility to protect their workers from that.

It was not the first time he had been seen on the platform.

Defence lawyer Brett Harris said there was no expectation for Jared to work on the legging stand, nor was it part of his job.

“He was just trying to help out.”

Harris said the seizure was a grand mal seizure – where people were known to have muscle convulsions and lose consciousness.

This meant Jared was unable to protect himself from the fall, he said.

Harris said the company accepted there should have been more supervision, but the cleaning was a ground level job.

“It’s impossible for one-on-one supervision of all workers.”

Carmin said she and her brother had a strong bond from a young age.

She was the eldest of his nine siblings, and was two years younger.

“I always tried to protect him and he knew he could come and see me if he needed help with anything big or small.

“I was his person, his main go to. We had many laughs at eachother’s expense.”

He had epilepsy and had experienced a few seizures at work, she said. As his emergency contact, they would call, and she would go to the hospital to be by his side.

“He was always back to work after a good nights sleep. They never held him back from living his life.”

She said she still feels emotion, sad, and angry – sometimes all at once – when she thinks about what happened.

She missed Jared’s friendship, his smile, his cheeky nature and how non-judgemental he was.

Jared’s mum Muriel Te Whare said he always put everyone before himself, especially family.

“He would have moved oceans and mountains for any of us.”

She was the mother of 10, and Te Whare was her first born.

She said he was a hard worker, loved his job, and would arrive excited and early every day.

“We lost a great role model for my children and great grandchildren.

“The role model has been taken from me. My son has been taken from me because he wasn’t look after property.”

Judge Simon Menzies reserved his decision, and thanked Te Whare’s whānau for attending and for those who read victim impact statements.