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Horse trainer fined $327k after accident which left teenage employee tetraplegic

Caroline Williams21:01, Aug 16 2019
 
Sophia Malthus broke her neck when she was thrown from a racehorse in November 2016.
BEVAN READ
Sophia Malthus broke her neck when she was thrown from a racehorse in November 2016.

An Auckland horse trainer has been ordered to pay $372,000 after an accident which left his teenage employee tetraplegic.

Stephen John McKee failed to ensure the health and safety of a teenage girl he employed as a stable hand in November 2016, a ruling at the Auckland District Court found on Friday.

The woman, believed to be 19-year-old Sophia Malthus, told Stuff in 2017 she had broken her neck in the accident, and lost all sensation below her collarbone

The horse she was riding bolted while they galloped around a practice track, and gathered "more and more" speed before the force threw them off the track.

The horse went through a fence, while Malthus landed on the track.

Malthus had been training as a jockey at the stable, near Ardmore, for six months before the accident, but had never ridden a racing-fit racehorse.

A Work Safe investigation found McKee, who had over 30 years experience in the industry, had not established whether the teenager was competent to ride a race horse.

Head of specialist interventions Simon Humphries said the stable hand's riding ability should have been assessed on more "suitable" horses, and McKee should have been aware of the hazards and risks.

"There was no formal training to monitor, supervise and progress from her stable hand to riding a racehorse.

"This young woman's life has been drastically affected and the incident serves as a reminder to employers that they must always ensure staff are capable of the job at hand."

Malthus previously told Stuff she did not hold a grudge against the horse, which had fully recovered from the accident.

McKee was charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. He was fined $30,000 and ordered to pay reparations of $110,000 and $262,000 for consequential loss.

 

Stuff

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Too much sympathy for Sticko imo. Even the name of this thread is more about him than her. Whether or not Steven was guilty, and it sounds like he was it is definitely the case that a stack of trainers have been in the past and will be in future. Hopefully this wakes others up and nothing like this happens again.

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On 8/17/2019 at 9:33 AM, Sickopunter said:

Too much sympathy for Sticko imo. Even the name of this thread is more about him than her. Whether or not Steven was guilty, and it sounds like he was it is definitely the case that a stack of trainers have been in the past and will be in future. Hopefully this wakes others up and nothing like this happens again.

Thats a i piss poor post from sicko.

Say you are a trainer and a young person comes asking for a job and an apprenticeship even. You ask about experience the YP has had and are told its done pony club for years so you put it on Quiet ones on the exercise track. But being animal of flight none are 100% safe. If the person has done pony club for years and wants to be a jockey you could assume the rider had got out of a canter.

So who messed up the pony club or the trainer. Because you can get done for a rider having an accident and being found the rider had the not galloped a horse experience. How can you get experience of galloping a horse without doing that? So the first time a horse is galloped and it goes through a fence and the rider is injured then that person in charge liable? OSH think so.

Its not like a car where you can have instruction with dual controls and learner plates.

The intention of OSH is to bully down accidents by being grossly punitive in high claim industry.

Cases happen when the unfortunate take a huge hit to set an example for the careless

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I believe your use of the word “assumed”, ruined any point you may have been trying to make.

Given this matter occurred some time ago, could someone who is a member of the Trainers Association, please post the information and suggestions that trainers undertake when employing a new stablehand, who by chance, may ride an animal at a dangerous speed. Surely this would be the least being done?

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Thats a pathetic posting from you Nerula. 

I don't think Stephen Mckee would be expecting any sympathy for himself. In fact he pleaded guilty and the judge also thought he was guilty.

The simple explanation is that Stephen was hugely negligent. 95% of the time he would have got away with it. 

Nerula. There is a huge difference going from pony club to galloping untractable thoroughbreds. Hey you must have been a rider sometime could someone find you a horse to gallop at the track. By the way don't forget the helmet not that it will do you much good. I'll arrange the ambulance.

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The only way it is possible to mitigate the penalty is to plead guilty, as a guilty verdict is inevitable. That is so, as the charge of 'failing to take sufficient care to prevent an injury causing -----" is self proving, as that injury did indeed occur. Osh cant lose! 

I would advise you never to be the employer of anyone, unless you have broad insurance to cover such a gross injury event, lest you take a hit. Then you carry the verdict for life.

Dont think I am uncaring of the injured as the charity I support is Catwalk Trust. I am acutely aware that Equine activities create a high incidence of SCI.

 

 

 

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The fact is it could have happened many times but we need to remember a beautiful young girl has had  her life changed forever.i knew t g Williams and it's very very tough.focus now on the girl.it makes me sick to hear people blame her.steve one of the world's great guys.he would have taken it hard.

Horse are unpredictable.ita a dangerous game.blame at this stage won't help.

We all have to try and make the game as safe as we can.

 

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On 8/18/2019 at 10:45 AM, Nerula said:
On 8/17/2019 at 9:33 AM, Sickopunter said:

tack of trainers have been in the past and will be in future. Hopefully this wakes others up and nothing like this happens again.

Thats a i piss poor post from sicko.

Say you are a trainer and a young person comes asking for a job and an apprenticeship even. You ask about experience the YP has had and are told its done pony club for years so you put it on Qu

 

On 8/18/2019 at 10:45 AM, Nerula said:

Thats a i piss poor post from sicko.

Say you are a trainer and a young person comes asking for a job and an apprenticeship even. You ask about experience the YP has had and are told its done pony club for years so you put it on Quiet ones on the exercise track. But being animal of flight none are 100% safe. If the person has done pony club for years and wants to be a jockey you could assume the rider had got out of a canter. 

So who messed up the pony club or the trainer. Because you can get done for a rider having an accident and being found the rider had the not galloped a horse experience. How can you get experience of galloping a horse without doing that? So the first time a horse is galloped and it goes through a fence and the rider is injured then that person in charge liable? OSH think so. 

Its not like a car where you can have instruction with dual controls and learner plates. 

The intention of OSH is to bully down accidents by being grossly punitive in high claim industry.

Cases happen when the unfortunate take a huge hit to set an example for the careless 

 

On 8/18/2019 at 10:45 AM, Nerula said:

Thats a i piss poor post from sicko.

Say you are a trainer and a young person comes asking for a job and an apprenticeship even. You ask about experience the YP has had and are told its done pony club for years so you put it on Quiet ones on the exercise track. But being animal of flight none are 100% safe. If the person has done pony club for years and wants to be a jockey you could assume the rider had got out of a canter. 

So who messed up the pony club or the trainer. Because you can get done for a rider having an accident and being found the rider had the not galloped a horse experience. How can you get experience of galloping a horse without doing that? So the first time a horse is galloped and it goes through a fence and the rider is injured then that person in charge liable? OSH think so. 

Its not like a car where you can have instruction with dual controls and learner plates. 

The intention of OSH is to bully down accidents by being grossly punitive in high claim industry.

Cases happen when the unfortunate take a huge hit to set an example for the careless 

Explain why its a piss poor post.

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On 10/10/2019 at 8:36 AM, Sickopunter said:

Go pound yourself in the face. Douche.

Try and see what your saying from others perspectives Sicko, ‘colourful’ language is one thing and Leos the best at it, but you may of crossed a line with your response,as you may well of with your original post here :rcf-happy-5:

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So many variables at work here. Hard to know how Stephen made his decision that day but after 6 months in the stable he must have had some evidence to say it was OK. 

Of course everyone is devastated for the young person who was involved but it would not take much investigation to find worse cases where large corporations were involved and for worse offences and the penalty was nowhere near as severe.

I was involved with at least one that springs to mind

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Not very often I am in agreement with the little man BUT in this case I am.... Why was the Vet who was in attendance that morning not asked about his conversation with said lady prior to her accident???

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7 hours ago, poundforpound said:

Here’s a hypothetical scenario of what might have happened ( given that I don’t have consent to say otherwise ).

A young girl comes to the stable and commences employment.

She makes claims that she has a certain level of ability and experience, at least one of which is backed up by a previous employer.

Having been employed for some months she expresses a desire to engage in more glamorous activities, ie riding work.

The employer endeavours to stall her ambitions but eventually he’s worn down by the persistent nagging, accompanied by the suggestion that if the employee isn’t allowed to ride work she’ll look at other opportunities.

Eventually the young lady is allowed on a quiet horse, on the warm up track, a small tight trotting or slow cantering track, and certainly not a galloping track.

The horse she’s riding begins to quicken beyond the canter but the young lass, instead of remaining calm and restraining the horse, decides to scream for help, and so the horse goes faster, and she screams even louder, and the horse goes faster.....until it’s bolting, terrified of her screaming, and it cannot negotiate the next corner.......that’s when it all ended in tears......

This scenario has been played out in a 1000 stables over the years ....and to the mugs who’re pointing the finger and mouthing off ...get the facts before you gob off

Truly astounding victim blaming. Who is the person responsible here in this workplace, the "young lass", or the people running the business? There's a fact you should get straight before gobbing off.

Yours is a shocking response, and cowardly. As if the family are even reading this and about to try to pounce on you for libel. They have far more fucking pressing matters.

Assuming the trainer isnt now cup in hand on queen st what effort is required now to maintain the systems they should have had in place beforehand? Thats another fact you should have before gobbing off. Because if it is actually something - holy horseshit - reasonable that would prevent overenthusiastic/overconfident employees putting themselves in unreasonable danger then that would make a lie of the whole 'scandal', wouldn't it.

And what if the fine doesn't turf the operation out onto queen st? Or even come close? What if (hypothetically speaking, not being at liberty to divulge) it represents a small proportion of the business assets?

Well then, hypothetically, you'd be left with a dinosaur raging at the clouds and lumping weasel-worded misery onto a family guilty of having an overenthusiastic 19 year old daughter left in the care of a 30 year industry veteran professional.

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It depends what happened of course. If the young girl were an employee of the skifield then it is a comparable scanario. The skifield absolutely must have appropriate controls in place to prevent harm. If a teenager who could not ski well had been allowed to go out alone to signpost a black trail before coming a cropper, and the skifield had poor systems in place to manage that risk, the skifield is vastly to blame there.

If you're talking about tourism well whats the point as it has nothing to do with the situation here.

Do you really think an employee demanding to do anything in a place of work forms any kind of a reasonable excuse for an employer? Who is in control in that situation? Please. 

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U can't turn back time.stephen is a wonderful fellow.he will feel terrible racing is terribly dangerous and we all do our best to minimise trouble.i just feel so sorry for the victim and it won't be popular I feel sorry for Stephen.a chain 9f events led to tragedy.no one wanted iLife is on a millisecond when things change good or bad.sandpiper Leo 8s a wonderfully generous fell fellow in mind and spirit.i know he don't always appear that way hahaha.

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Who does Sophia blame? She has to live this everyday and you can guarantee she has gone over this 100s if not 1000s of times in her own mind. :rcf-sad-4: There are lessons to learn for all involved out of this but Sophia is the one who could teach those coming through the most. Wish her all the best,if we could only turn  back time :rcf-sad-13:

Trying to find something comparable is tough but as a learner surfer you take chances everytime you go out, the unpredictable nature of the Ocean ,changing tides , Swell,conditions ,topography,Rips,big angry fish ,unpredictable trajectory of surfboards even getting in and out of the water on rock or reef makes it a risky pastime similar to Horseracing, you can even break your neck bodysurfing 2ft waves .At what point of the learning process do you take on bigger hollower waves in Sharkier waters knowing the chances of hospitalisation or death is a reality? When things go wrong who do you blame,the guy driving you to the beach? The lifeguard if any on duty? You cant control the unpredictable . can u ? 

 

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1 hour ago, poundforpound said:

So let’s extend this accountability scenario.

How about if the employee had been sent by the primary employer, on full wages, to an esteemed riding school for advanced education, a riding school that’d historically turned out high profile and hugely successful NZ jockeys, let’s say a jockey like Bruce Herd as an example....then the employee comes back to her primary employee some weeks later and declares that she’s competent, qualified, and experienced having been riding many different horses......so the employer finds a nice quiet horse, not immediately but a few weeks later....and sends the young girl out, with a senior and experienced rider alongside her, on the basis that “let’s just go one round on the trotting track and pull up if you’re in any doubt....or go one more lap if you’re absolutely sure you’re doing ok “

If it matters the young employee decides she wants to do a second lap.....

Where does that leave the employer and employee in terms of personal accountability .....?

I should also ask where NZTR fits into this ?

Do they have any responsibilities because the licensed staff are those of NZTR ...what systems should NZTR have to educate licensees ? or do they just hand licenses out ? And how should NZTR ensure their licensees are competent and working in a safe environment....and furthermore how does the RIU fit in...they have numerous useful retired jockeys on their staff.....where were they when it was time to let this girl to transition  from ground staff to trackwork rider ?

 

You have opened up another line here . If a person goes on an accredited course the provider should document  progress , provide certification , areas to work on ,  advice as to how on the job training should progress and at what times . There should be progress updates to provider of training with notes as to knowledge gaps , surely fitness tests etc  . Hopefully this is provided by all jockey trainers in this  extremely dangerous industry . There will be a paper trail and/or computer records as to this training surely , the court and/or lawyers will have scrutinised these.

A heartbreaking situation for all involved .

 

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Gruff said:

Who does Sophia blame? She has to live this everyday and you can guarantee she has gone over this 100s if not 1000s of times in her own mind. :rcf-sad-4: There are lessons to learn for all involved out of this but Sophia is the one who could teach those coming through the most. Wish her all the best,if we could only time back time :rcf-sad-13:

Trying to find something comparable is tough but as a learner surfer you take chances everytime you go out, the unpredictable nature of the Ocean ,changing tides , Swell,conditions ,topography,Rips,big angry fish ,unpredictable trajectory of surfboards even getting in and out of the water on rock or reef makes it a risky pastime similar to Horseracing, you can even break your neck bodysurfing 2ft waves .At what point of the learning process do you take on bigger hollower waves in Sharkier waters knowing the chances of hospitalisation or death is a reality? When things go wrong who do you blame,the guy driving you to the beach? The lifeguard if any on duty? You cant control the unpredictable . can u ? 

 

A key difference in your example Gruff is that the legislation only relates to work places, ie unless you good enough to be a professional surfer, a surfing “mishap” doesn’t fall under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

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