Greenhithe death: WorkSafe investigating after crane touched overhead power lines

An investigation is under way after a person died when a raised crane touched power lines at a North Shore worksite.

WorkSafe has up to 12 months to complete the investigation and a spokesperson said it could not comment while the investigation was under way.

Police said the person who died on Saturday cannot yet be named.

A woman described seeing paramedics performing CPR on the person after emergency services rushed to Tauhinu Rd in Greenhithe at 3.23pm.

One resident said the crane operators had been struggling to lift objects from the back of the truck all week.

“The truck was on a steep angle in the driveway, and the crane operator had three packets of timber, was struggling to lift one and was trying to reach as far as he could,” he said.

“Obviously, the crane went too high.”

Another neighbour said she saw the victim lying on the ground after the accident, covered by a sheet.

“He’s hit the power line above the building site, but then they came and picked up the body and took him away.”

Another witness also saw emergency services frantically doing CPR on the victim.

“One of the police officers asked us not to look at the site,” one neighbour said.

He believed more safeguards should have been in place because the contractors were working “in such proximity to power lines”.

Several neighbours were forced to park in adjacent streets and have police walk them through to their houses after the accident.

Some of them lost power for three to four hours.

Vector said itswitched off power in the immediate area to help emergency services and it was restored just before 7.30pm that night.