A Taupo forestry company has been fined $34,000 after an employee was killed at work in 2012.
Great Lake Harvesting Ltd has also been ordered to pay the man's family $60,000 for emotional harm.
The contracting company was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday. It was originally fined $67,500, but this was reduced by the judge because of the company's finances.
It was charged by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment with failing to take practicable steps to ensure staff safety.
The man had no training when he felled a tree near Pongaroa in Wairarapa, which then leaned into another. The tree then fell on and killed the 23-year-old as he was cutting the second one down.
The ministry says the man had only been felling trees for a week and a half and was not properly supervised by the company. It says his lack of training and inexperience should have been a red flag.
