Media Release

27th March 2013

Mum calls on NZ to heed UK Coroner’s findings over Quad Bike Safety following the inquest into the death of her son in NZ

After hearing an inquest in Surrey into the tragic death of 19 year old British student Tom Sewell in KatiKati in 2008, UK Coroner Mr Richard Travers has written to the Chief Coroner in NZ backing 9 recommendations laid down by NZ Coroner Wallace Bain in 2009 and adding a 10th.

Tom’s parents Linda and Ken Sewell are calling on the Northland Coroner, who is looking into the deaths of five quad bike riders, to take heed of all of these recommendations, particularly Mr Travers request concerning making roll bar/crush protection devices mandatory. They said the UK Coroner made it clear that in his view there was a problem with health and safety.

“We assumed Tom would be safe in NZ, a Commonwealth country. Tom made a decision to get on that ATV on the 12th June and we cannot change that, but if the health and safety procedures surrounding it’s use had been robust then the outcome could have been very different and our son would be with us now.

“We now know how lethal these machines are, a major cause of death and injury in NZ and other countries. Since the accident we have followed reporting in NZ and realise that there have been countless fatalities and numerous recommendations made by Coroners which seem to have been ignored. There seems to be an attitude that accidents happen, not that accidents could be prevented. We hope that employers will take more responsibility and be accountable for their employees’ safety; and where they fall short the Dept. of Labour should proactively be taking punitive action. Unfortunately action only seems to be taken after a fatality or serious injury. If employers were compliant and took health and safety seriously all the time then the number of workplace injuries would fall. In our view there needs to be a change of mind-set.

“We lost our child on his first day at work in a foreign country that had insufficient laws to protect him. We don't want any other family to go through this and we will do anything we can to help New Zealand workplaces become safer. It is nearly 5 years since Tom’s accident and nothing has changed in NZ. How many more deaths will it take?”

ENDS

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