Median fine in nine asbestos prosecutions in New Zealand building and construction, 2017-2023

What it is. NZD fine per prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for asbestos offences (survey, notification, licensed removal, demolition of contaminated buildings); median of nine; mean $54,247.

Range NZ$1,100 to NZ$318,750 (reported min max)

Sample. WorkSafe's court summary register (608 entries when read) searched on "asbestos": 24 entries. Left out: 7 decided under the 1992 Act (fines up to $45,000), 2 withdrawn, Dong SH Auckland ($255,000) and its appeal, Quick Earth Moving ($150,000) and Essential Homes ($30,000) because the asbestos finding was secondary to a wall collapse or a prohibition-notice breach, and Bays Boating ($108,000, retail) and McManus Hotel ($50,000, hospitality) because the register records a non-construction industry. The register was also searched on "traffic management" (17 construction entries); of those read, only Higgins Contractors ($270,000, a three-fatality roadside case) was described by its facts as a traffic-management failure, so no set could be formed. Review re-derived the 24 results on 2026-11-02: 9 in the set, 3 left out as above (Dong, Quick Earth, Essential Homes), Dong's appeal, 2 non-construction, 7 under the 1992 Act and 2 withdrawn 2013 entries; every fine in the set matches its entry.

What it is not. Graded low on review. The median is not stable. It is the middle of nine prosecutions chosen by this research from one regulator's register under the rule in sample_note, and a defensible change to the rule moves it. Adding Dong SH Auckland ($255,000, one of its three charges is worker exposure to asbestos) gives a median of $19,687.50 over ten; adding Dong and Quick Earth Moving ($150,000) gives $23,375 over eleven; adding those two and Essential Homes ($30,000) gives $26,687.50 over twelve; dropping Topham gives $19,687.50 over eight. The nine are eight jobs, since Inspired Enterprises and Gannaway are one flooring job (21 June 2021), and Topham is a farmer demolishing a chicken shed, which the register records as building and construction. Each fine is a sentence on the whole charge sheet after the court's discounts, so it prices a prosecution, not the cost of a missing register, and only prosecuted breaches appear. Defendants are individuals and companies; the offences range from no asbestos survey to demolishing two contaminated buildings. Amounts are nominal across 2017 to 2023. The cause also covers permits to work, traffic management plans and environmental conditions, and this figure speaks to none of those; none of the nine entries is charged only with a missing asbestos register or management plan.

Our arithmetic. Fines as the WorkSafe register states them, sorted: $1,100 (Gannaway 2023); $3,000 (Knight 2018); $10,000 (Topham 2017); $15,000 (Sibley 2020); $16,000 (Ecologically Sound Demolition 2020); $23,375 (Inspired Enterprises 2023, after appeal); $35,000 (Robertson 2018); $66,000 (Wilson Building Timaru 2023); $318,750 (Crafar Crouch Construction 2018). The median is the fifth value, $16,000. Sum $488,225, mean $54,247 (488,225 / 9). price_year 2020 is the middle decision year; the amounts are nominal.

Where it came from

• WorkSafe New Zealand (2025), WorkSafe court summaries (prosecutions register): asbestos prosecutions in building and construction
  nine register entries listed in the source: topham-holding-limited, richard-john-knight, john-carstairs-robertson, crafar-crouch-construction-limited-b, glenn-warwick-sibley, ecologically-sound-demolition-limited, lawrence-gannaway, inspired-enterprises-limited, wilson-building-timaru-limited · source record

Considered and set aside

• Te Uru Kahika Regional and Unitary Councils Aotearoa: Resource Management Act fines of $3,108,157 across 71 convicted defendants in 2024/25 cover every sector with no construction or earthworks split, so they do not measure an environmental-conditions breach on a construction job.
• WorkSafe New Zealand: Counts of notices and prosecutions with no dollar value by cause.
• Hesketh Henry: An all-sector average of $145,033.60 per section 36 offence from 2018, not tied to a site requirement.

non_compliance/site_asbestos_prosecution_fine_nz · NZ · F ·the record ·link to this figure ·dispute this figure(or email support@demiton.io)