{"id":414742,"date":"2026-05-06T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414742\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:22:18","slug":"companies-must-pay-200k-after-truckers-death-on-private-forestry-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414742\/","title":{"rendered":"Companies must pay $200k after trucker’s death on private forestry road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Greg<\/p>\n

\nGreg Stevens was killed in a truck crash in May 2023 on a private forestry road.
\nPhoto: WORKSAFE \/ SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n

Two companies have to pay almost $200,000 in fines and reparations after a forestry truck driver’s death<\/a> almost three years ago.<\/p>\n

Greg Stevens, 59, was killed when his fully loaded truck and trailer rolled on a treacherous bend on a private forestry road.<\/p>\n

He was on his third trip when he crashed on 27 May 2023.<\/p>\n

The road near Te Mata in Coromandel had no warning signs, road markers or berms – and a sharp corner outside recommended specifications, WorkSafe said.<\/p>\n

The Thames District Court found the corner’s turning diameter was 7.5 metres less than the minimum standard for his truck.<\/p>\n

Wet surfaces, mud-caked tyres, darkness and steepness made it worse.<\/p>\n

Forest owner Specialty Timbers Limited and transport contractor Trevor Masters Limited have been sentenced in a reserved decision.<\/p>\n

Specialty Timbers was fined $13,750 and told to pay consequential loss reparations of $26,628.87.<\/p>\n

Trevor Masters Limited was ordered to pay a $12,500 fine and $4,629.32 for consequential loss reparations.<\/p>\n

Together they must equally pay $140,000 in emotional harm reparations.<\/p>\n

In a statement, WorkSafe said Judge Tompkins found each party assumed someone else was making sure the road was safe, which meant nobody took responsibility.<\/p>\n

“No log load is worth a life, forestry operators must understand that managing forestry roads isn’t optional,” WorkSafe northern manager Brad Duggan said.<\/p>\n

WorkSafe also highlighted comments from Stevens wife, Caroline Stevens, in her victim impact statement.<\/p>\n

“Greg’s death was preventable, and if those companies had done what they should have done, my Greg would still be with me today,” she told the court.<\/p>\n

“It is my hope that Greg’s death will serve as a reminder to prioritise safety in the workplace, so no other family has to endure this trauma,” she added.<\/p>\n

“My plea is simple, let our loved ones come home from work safely.”<\/p>\n

The managers of the forest, Forest360 Limited, separately entered into an enforceable undertaking, which was a binding agreement with WorkSafe.<\/p>\n

It was for over $400,000 to be invested in a range of safety actions in response to Stevens’ death.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greg Stevens was killed in a truck crash in May 2023 on a private forestry road. Photo: WORKSAFE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-414742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414742","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=414742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}