CORONER’S COURT Changes sought in scaffold guards

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33565, 20 June 1974, Page 7

CORONER’S COURT Changes sought in scaffold guards

Expert evidence recommending that the Construction Regulations be amended to ensure safer scaffolding construction was given in the Coroner’s Court yesterday when the inquest into the death of a young man who fell about 60ft at Ham on February 28 was concluded.

The Coroner (Mr E. B. E. Taylor), found that John Edmond McGuire, aged 18, died at Christchurch Hospital on March 2 as a result of multiple injuries suffered when he fell from the scaffolding at the Ham University site.

Arthur Edward Tindall, a consulting engineer, was called to give evidence by Mr J. D. Cadenhead who appeared o.i behalf of the Carpenters’ Union and Mr McGuire’s father. He said that had a toe board been fitted to the scaffolding, Mr McGuire would probably not have fallen under and through the safety rail.

Had a second safety rail been fitted the accident would not

have happened, he said. Mr Tindall said he recommended that the regulations be amended so that two guard rails instead of one be required, and that a toe board also be required as a measure to prevent a person slipping off a scaffold platform. The Coroner said the accident was a tragic one. He would ensure that the recommendations made would be brought to the nolce of the authorities concerned so that similar accidents could be prevented. THROWN FROM CAR “If young people continue to drink and drive we are going to go on having these sad and tragic deaths in New Zealand,”, the Coroner said when commenting on the death of youth in Harper Avenue in November. He found that Kelvin Ronald Howie, aged 16, died on November 16 as a result of severe head injuries suffered when he was thrown from a car driven by Trevor James Laird after it struck a tree in Harper Avenue. Evidence was given that Laird, aged 18, a chipper operator, made a statement to the police in which he said he had consumed two or three jugs of beer and two or three small bottles of beer at a city hotel before the accident.

Laird and other occupants of the car were taken to hospital. Mr Howie’s body was found on the bank of the Avon River the next morning. GROSS INJURIES

The Coroner found that Frances Wilson Goodwin Halkett, aged 55, a married woman, died at Christchurch on November 22 as a result of the gross head

injuries inflicted by her husband, Robert Stark Halkett. Detective Senior-Sergeant A. G. I. Rodgers said Mrs Halkett’s husband, Robert Stark Halkett, appeared for trial in the Supreme Court on February 14 on a charge of murder. Evidence was given that he could not be held responsible for Mrs Halkett’s death on the ground that he was suffering from acute manic depressive psychosis. “The evidence was accepted by the jury which returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’ on the ground of insanity.’

Mr Justice Macarthur ordered that Halkett be kept in strict custody at Sunnyside Hospital as a special patient until the pleasure of the Minister of Justice is known. TWO KILLED John Ratima, aged 20, and June Patricia Davis, aged 16, died at Christchurch Hospital on September 8 as a result of multiple injuries. The injuries were suffered when a motor-cycle on which they were travlling and a car driven by Adrian Maurice Scott, aged 31, a footwear worker, collided on Marshland Road that day. Mr Ratima was the rider of the motor-cycle. Miss Davis was his pillion pEassenger. MOTOR-CYCLIST’S DEATH Kenneth Mark Holland, aged 16, died on March 8 as a result of multiple injuries. The injuries were suffered when the motorcycle he was riding and a taxi driven byl Allan David Amos, aged 49. collided that day on North Parade. VAN STRUCK POLE Christopher Sheridan, aged 27, died at Christchurch on March 3 as a result of head injuries suffered when the van he was driving struck a pole in Blenheim Road that day. STRUCK BY CAR Avis Emmeline Nisbet, aged 65; died at Rolleston on December 21. The cause of death was multiple severe injuries suffered when she was struck by a car driven by John Phillip Bellamy, a soldier, of Burnham, on the Main South Road. HEAD INJURIES Evelyn Maude Young, aged 77, died at Christchurch Hospital on July 28. The cause of death was severe head injuries suffered when the car she was driving and a car driven by Michelle Lois Costello, aged 25, a student teacher, collided on Papanui Road that day. MOTOR-CYCLIST KILLED Phillip Alexander Bryce, aged 19, died at Christchurch Hospital on February 8 as a result of severe head injuries. Mr Bryce was the rider of a motor-cycle which was involved in a collision with a car in Rossail Street the previous day. The driver of the car was Allan Colby Frost, aged 24, a clerk. DRIVER KILLED Ronald James Fraser, aged 43, died at Christchurch Hospital on March 23 as a result of pulmonary haemorrhage associated with a fractured skull. Mr Fraser was the driver of a | car which went out of control on I State Highway No. 1 at Dunsandel on March 23. A blood sample , analysed gave an alcohol concen- ■ tration of 187 mg. per 100 milliI litres of blood. SUICIDE Stanley Wilfred Smith, aged 60, i died at 64 Willryan Avenue on : February 19, having committed suicide. The cause of death was i asphyxia caused by carbon monh oxide.