Taupō District Council ordinary meeting on June 28, 2022. Image / YouTube

Taupō & Tūrangi Weekender

Taupō District Council has just published its Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Report for the three-month period from March to May 2022.

The council has around 350 employees and the report includes events affecting members of the public while they are in a council-controlled space, and also contractors while they are working on council property.

The report was presented at the June council meeting last Tuesday and it was reported that 70 incidents were logged, most of them involving council employees who had slipped or tripped.

The following incidents were at the higher end of severity.

There were two serious incidents involving members of the public. Unfortunately, a person died at the AC Baths after an out-of-water medical event.

At the Spa Rd roundabout, a driver was left shaken after their car windscreen was shattered when it was hit by a falling gum tree branch.

Customer relations staff at the Tongariro St service centre had to put up with a dog owner who became aggressive after their dog was impounded and they were fined. The aggressive person then claimed to have Covid-19 and this resulted in the service centre having to shut down straight away and the police being called.

A council field worker contracted Legionnaires disease, a chronic disease affecting the lungs through exposure to airborne spores from mulch and composted material. However, it is not clear if the worker got the disease while at work.

Council roading contractor Camex Civil had an incident where an excavator driver touched the power lines with their 13-tonne excavator while widening the sealed part of the road on Poihipi Rd. This caused four power poles to fall down, including one pole that had a power transformer on it. No one was hurt. Camex shut down the site and upon investigation found five causal factors.

Councillor John Boddy queried the council's liability if there had been a fatality and the response from the council's environment, health and safety manager Michelle McGill was that the causal factors should have been captured via processes outlined in the pre-contract qualification.

She said Camex admitted liability straight away and put fixes in place.

The report also covered managing the risk of staff catching Covid-19, and noted since the start of the pandemic there had been an uptick in staff reporting mental health issues.