KiwiRail fined $290,000 for the incident
KiwiRail has "sincerely apologised" for an incident that left two workers critically injured after being electrocuted during a maintenance work in 2024.
KiwiRail chief metro officer David Gordon offered the apology after the company was fined $290,000 and ordered to pay $42,000.
"We sincerely apologise for this incident," Gordon said in a statement quoted by Radio New Zealand.
"It should not have happened, and our guilty plea reflects our acceptance that we fell short of the high standards we expect to maintain."
September 2024 incident
The two rail workers were electrocuted by 25,000 volts of electricity after coming into contact with overhead powerlines between Newmarket and Britomart in September 2024.
According to the RNZ report, the victims were performing maintenance on the overhead lines near Parnell Train Station but did not notice they had moved outside the planned work site.
One of the victims had to undergo three surgeries and a number of skin grafts following the incident after receiving burns to the left side of his face, neck, upper body, chest, backside of his left shoulder, and left arm down to his wrist.
"Since the incident I have undergone and am still undergoing emotional and physical difficulties," the victim's impact statement said as quoted by the news outlet.
The victim, who first moved to New Zealand in 2018 before being followed by his wife and daughter in 2022, said the situation became even more challenging because they had no family support in the country.
"[My wife] has had to manage everything on her own, caring for me, supporting our daughter, and handling all daily responsibilities on her own," the victim said.
KiwiRail was ordered to pay the victim $36,000 for emotional harm, while the other worker will be paid $6,198.
Further protections implemented
Meanwhile, KiwiRail outlined the other measures they implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.
"We implemented controls identified in the review including prohibiting any changes to planned work, improving visibility of isolation limits by introducing blue lights and additional measures for verifying that overhead lines are de-energised before work," Gordon said as quoted by RNZ.
"While we accept that our systems and processes were not sufficient to keep workers safe on the night in question, we are committed to making sure everyone gets to go home safely at the end of every day, and are constantly reviewing and improving our systems."
