Special Award: Health & Safety Champion Winner: Nik Bradnock

NIK BRADNOCK from Clearwood Contracting in the Wairarapa, was chosen for this category by the Forest Industry Safety Council.

The reason: his innovation and care with harvesting one of the most significant archaeological sites in New Zealand, the ‘‘Cross Site’’ at Cape Palliser.

This site was one of the first sites occupied by Māori and is described by archaeologists as ‘‘prehistoric’’.

A lot of archaeological work was done on this site and the information gained there makes up a display at Te Papa Museum in Wellington.

Unfortunately, this area was planted with trees in the 1980s and these had grown very large.

Local iwi required the trees to be removed,

Nik rose to the occasion, operating in a sensitive community area with excellent results.

which set in motion a complicated harvest plan.

The ground could not be disturbed at all, all slash had to be removed, and tree felling had to avoid numerous archaeological features.

Nik rose to the occasion, operating in a sensitive community area to complete a complicated harvest with excellent results that earned him the gratitude of local iwi and an untouched significant site.