RO-1999-127

At approximately 1630 hours on Friday 17 December 1999, a rake of wagons being propelled from Fletcher Paper private siding in Mt Maunganui derailed as a result of being pushed over a derailing block. The wagons slewed from the track and crossed a public road level crossing before colliding with a building and coming to rest on the opposite side of the road. The safety deficiencies identified included:

• the use of motorcycles by staff during shunting of sidings
• the lack of formalisation of local speed limits
• the positioning of staff during the propelling movement.

Two safety recommendations were made to address these issues.