The road had no warnings signs, road markers or berms, and its sharp corner was well outside any recommended specifications for the heavy vehicle he was driving, according to WorkSafe.<\/p>\n
The court found the wet surfaces, mud-caked tyres, darkness, and a steep downhill approach made the bend even more dangerous.<\/p>\n
In a victim impact statement in court, Caroline Stevens, Greg\u2019s widow, said: \u201cGreg\u2019s death was preventable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf those companies had done what they should have done, my Greg would still be with me today.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreg\u2019s death has left both mine, and the lives of our families in limbo. Only someone who has experienced a loss like this in such tragic and horrible circumstances will ever understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/greg-stevens-E6LON7M6YFDSNMTF4DW6KCHV34.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Greg Stevens. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
She hoped her husband\u2019s death would serve as a reminder to prioritise safety in the workplace, \u201cso no other family has to endure this trauma\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plea is simple: let our loved ones come home from work safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The forest owner, Specialty Timbers (1987) Limited, and the transport contractor, Trevor Masters Limited, have been sentenced for the health and safety failures.<\/p>\n
Reparations of $171,258 were ordered, alongside a combined fine of $26,250. Both companies had previously been charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.<\/p>\n
WorkSafe said Judge Tompkins found each party had assumed someone else had ensured the road was safe, so nobody took responsibility.<\/p>\n
The forest managers, Forest360 Limited, separately had entered into an enforceable understanding, or a binding agreement, with WorkSafe to invest over $400,000 in a range of safety actions in response to the death.<\/p>\n
WorkSafe said forestry is a priority due to a fatality rate 20 times higher than the average for all sectors, with a role to influence businesses and workers to meet their responsibilities to keep people healthy and safe.<\/p>\n
WorkSafe northern regional manager Brad Duggan said: \u201cNo log is worth a life\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cForestry operators must understand that managing forestry roads isn’t optional. If you’re moving heavy vehicles through difficult terrain, you need proper risk assessment, proper consultation, and proper controls. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re not sure your roads are up to standard, stop and check before the next truck goes out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A widow has spoken to Thames District Court about the death of her truck driver husband \u2013 whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[138,67,1122,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-413805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-business","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-employment","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}