The Forest, Kiwiburn 2016. ©Tangent
Each Kiwiburn, many things happen which we learn from to improve the overall experience. This year we had a Serious Harm Incident where a participant was badly injured when part of a tree landed on her, leading to an investigation. Kiwiburn has been working with Worksafe to ensure all relevant information be gathered and presented for them to make an assessment and recommendations.
The ExCom now have an Action Plan to help keep our community even safer during the event regarding camping under trees:
- Negotiate use of more land to allow Forest areas to be closed to camping while a full risk assessment is undertaken.
- Engage an arborist consultancy to officially assess risk and advise on an acceptable standard of safety for camping under trees and close off areas assessed as dangerous.
- Work to improve closed off areas to the acceptable safety standard, in stages and as budget allows, reopening once they comply.
- Clearly communicate to the community which areas are available for camping and which are closed off well in advance of the event via our website, the Electric Fencepost newsletter, and social media channels.
- Mark boundaries of camping areas clearly with danger tape and highly visible signage on site.
- Instate regular checks of boundaries of camping areas during the event to ensure anyone camping in a closed area is moved to a safe area.
- Create policy and guidelines for appropriate and timely follow-up for any participants who leave site due to accident or medical reasons.
- Update training manuals for Gate, Greeters, and Parking volunteers to ensure consistent information about boundaries of camping areas is passed to participants at each stage of arrival.
We know a lot of you like to camp in the Forest – it’s beautiful, peaceful and shady and a stone’s throw from the water! Further information about the effect this will have on Theme Camp and camping placement will be provided later in 2016 once land negotiations and initial arborist checks are completed.
Thank you for your understanding while we implement the above. It’s for everyone’s safety.
Worksafe findings
Worksafe have completed their investigation and decided that it is not in the public interest to pursue the matter further. While they found Kiwiburn’s health and safety processes to be sound, they have also identified a number of areas for improvement which have been incorporated into our Action Plan.
