Assisted machine tree felling would have likely prevented Mykhailo Tremel’s death – Coroner
When Mykhailo Tremel was hit by a falling tree at a logging site, he radioed for help to his colleagues, who were checking in with him every half an hour.
When they arrived, they found the 39-year-old father down a steep bank. His helmet had been knocked off, and the chainsaw he’d been using was still running nearby.
The experienced tree faller – the term used by the industry – had cuts and grazes to his wrists and a mark on his head where he appeared to have been hit by the tree. He was still conscious and asked to be moved.
But the Ukrainian national soon lost consciousness and died at the scene, despite the efforts of his colleagues and paramedics who arrived at the logging site near Clevedon, southeast of Auckland.
Now Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave has ruled that assisted machine felling at the remote site would have reduced the risk to Tremel and likely have prevented his death.
“Research suggests that manual tree fallers are up to 300 times more likely to die at work than the rest of the New Zealand workforce.
“As the percentage of the harvest that is mechanically felled has increased, both the number and rate of forest fatalities [have] steadily declined, whilst output has increased.”
Tremel’s wife, Bronwyn, told the Heraldthat, for his family, the most important thing now was that the recommendations led to real, lasting change.
“We hope that his death will not be in vain.
“This should be the catalyst for stronger safety requirements, including an end to manual felling in high-risk conditions, and that safer methods should become mandatory wherever reasonably practicable.
“If Mykhailo’s death can help protect even one other worker and spare another family this heartbreak, then something meaningful can come from our loss.”
According to a decision released today, Tremel was a qualified Level 4 tree faller who had been working in forestry in New Zealand since 2017.
He had left a career in the Ukrainian armed services in 2013 and moved to South Africa, where he worked in a shipping security role before coming to New Zealand in 2016.
He had worked as a tree faller in Ukraine for about two years, attaining formal Ukrainian qualifications.
When he arrived in New Zealand, he was assessed against the New Zealand qualifications framework.
He started his own forestry contracting business, Tremel Solutions, with his wife in 2021.
Felling in ‘critical risk’ conditions
In 2022, Tremel was hired by Turoa Logging (TLL) to manually fell pine trees at the Clevedon site as part of ground-based harvest operations managed by Pulley Contracting (PCL) of trees owned by Sharewood Forestry.
On the morning of June 1, he was into his fifth day of felling at the woodlot harvest site when the accident happened.
Police advised the coroner that the site was muddy and remote and could be accessed only by a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
The area was particularly boggy that day after rain the previous night, and the weather was listed as a critical risk, with strong winds expected.
Tremel was working alone, but was in contact with other workers via a two-way radio, checking in every 30 minutes to confirm that he was safe, as required by TLL.
At 8.20am, he called for help on the radio.
When his colleagues arrived, he was still conscious, asking the workers to move him. He was wearing safety gear, including chaps, forestry boots, a high-vis vest and a helmet, which had been knocked off and was lying nearby.
Emergency services were called, but Tremel was pronounced dead at 10.45am while being attended by paramedics.
His death was caused by a severe crushing-type blow to the back of his chest.
His death was investigated by WorkSafe New Zealand, and charges were laid against PCL and TLL.
WorkSafe found some of the trees Tremel was cutting down were bent and damaged by wind, and should have been harvested with machines.
It also found TLL had not properly reassessed its harvesting plan after nearby trees were cut by machinery, and had not ensured that safe felling practices were followed.
PCL did not do enough to identify the ongoing risks to workers and should have been auditing TLL more thoroughly.
Both companies entered guilty pleas and were sentenced by Judge Sanjay Patel in the Manukau District Court in March 2025.
In his sentencing notes, the judge said it was practicable to have machine-felled the area in question, even if other areas might have required manual felling.
He found the departures from industry standards by PCL were not of the most serious kind. However, the departures by TLL were not minor.
PCL was ordered to pay $56,000 in reparation, $72,272.10 in consequential losses and a fine of $15,000.
TLL was ordered to pay $84,000 in reparation and $108,408.14 in consequential losses. The company no longer hires contract tree fallers and has increased the frequency of its safety meetings and training sessions for all crew.
Today’s coroner’s report has found that better observation techniques, call-in procedures, and emergency response procedures would have most likely improved the chances of Tremel “having a favourable outcome” after the accident.
Regulatory work on forestry on hold since 2022
Research from the Forestry Industry Safety Council (FISC) suggests that manual tree fallers are up to 300 times more likely to die at work than the rest of the New Zealand workforce.
As the percentage of the harvest that is mechanically felled has increased, the number and rate of forest deaths have steadily declined, while output has increased.
The vast majority of tree faller deaths from 2013-23 were from manual felling, and no deaths occurred in fully mechanised operations.
The FISC estimated there were fewer than 200 fulltime-equivalent professional manual fallers in New Zealand.
Many of these are Safetree certified fallers subject to annual recertification. However, the number of casual, part-time or uncertified fallers is unknown. This is the highest-risk group in the industry.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and WorkSafe told the coroner that regulatory work on forestry has been put on hold since 2022, but the forestry sector remained a priority for WorkSafe.
Between 2018 and 2022, as part of the second tranche of regulation development under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HWSA), the Government considered regulations for plant, structures and some forms of hazardous work.
These regulations would have applied to the forestry sector, with the high-risk plant component including regulatory steep-slope mechanical forestry harvesting equipment.
The hazardous work component did not include manual tree felling, which was due to be considered later.
Cabinet agreed the regulations in May 2021 and drafting began, but this was paused in late 2022.
MBIE further said it did not have current regulatory work in progress for forestry health and safety, and there were no regulations specific to forestry.
Neither were there any regulations setting out a particular risk management method for manual tree felling.
There is an Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for forestry workers, which provides guidance but is not mandatory.
The ACOP has recently been updated, and HSWA changes from April next year will mean a person will be treated as complying with a relevant duty in relation to a risk if they comply with all provisions of an ACOP that relate to that duty and the risk or risks.
The Amendment Act will also enable ACOPs to be developed by entities other than the regulator.
But Coroner Schmidt-McCleave said in her decision that it remained a “light-handed regulation”.
“As confirmed to me by WorkSafe NZ, although following an ACOP provides strong evidence that a business has met a relevant health and safety duty, failure to adhere to an ACOP is not by itself considered an offence.
“I therefore consider that regulatory avenues, using the HSWA regulatory framework, should continue to be pursued and prioritised.”
In the meantime, while the ACOP remains the preferred mechanism for regulation in this area, Smidt added recommendations to be considered at the next ACOP review.
These included that WorkSafe should consider consulting on proposed changes to make clear that no manual felling should be permitted for wind-damaged, hung up, or other upset conditions, and that an observer with the same or similar skills should be present within sight and sound of the faller at all times.
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.
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