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Emergency services at Woodbourne Airport - Source: Fairfax -
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The Department of Labour is seeking a tougher sentence for an Air New Zealand subsidiary fined after an engineer was sucked into an aircraft engine.
Miles Hunter, 51, of Renwick, was sucked into a Rolls Royce T56 Turbo Prop "during routine testing" last August at Woodbourne Airbase, near Blenheim. There was no propeller on the engine at the time and the engine was not attached to a plane.
The Department of Labour said Hunter's employer, Safe Air, which runs a maintenance service for the military at the site, was fined $56,250 and was also ordered to pay reparation of $22,500 following the accident.
The department is appealing the sentence, saying it does not "reflect the seriousness of this offence," Lesley Haines, the department's Head of Health and Safety said.
The hearing is set down for the High Court in Blenheim on September 24.
Heather Deacon, General Manager Safe Air, a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, said at the time of the sentencing that the company supported the ruling.
"The fact that Miles, a valued employee and colleague died at work tragically highlights that our training, systems, processes and policies were insufficient to fully protect him from this danger," Deacon said.
"The tragic loss of Miles is unacceptable and this led to the company's immediate guilty plea."
Deacon said following a full review of the causes of the accident, Safe Air set about improving its systems, training, practices and procedures to ensure such a tragedy could never occur again.
Blenheim District Court heard that Hunter and another employee were servicing an engine, which was mounted on a testing site and was accessible from an elevated work platform.
With one employee in the control room at the computer, Hunter went outside to check the engine on the right hand side before checking the left. To access the right hand side Hunter had to walk in front of the engine past the air intake.
"When the employee manoeuvred in front of the engine he wasn't holding onto the handrail around the edge of the platform and was pulled into the engine," said the department's Southern General Manager Jean Martin.
Hunter had been with the company since 2005.
The death is a first for Air NZ, but similar accidents have happened overseas. A US navy serviceman survived after being sucked into a jet engine on an aircraft carrier in 1991.
Woodbourne is home to the Air Force's only heavy maintenance facility for the repair of engines, airframes and avionics which was commercialised in 1998 and is now run by Safe Air.
Around 450 contractors work at the maintenance facility.