Emergency services at the scene at Makara, west of Wellington, where a digger driver has died after dropping 80 metres down an embankment.

A digger driver has died after crashing off a steep Wellington bank.

The bulldozer crashed down an 80-metre drop in Makara, on Wellington's west coast, about 11.45am on Tuesday, police said.

The police serious crash unit and WorkSafe investigators were both at the scene, and will conduct inquiries.

ROB KITCHIN/STUFF Emergency services at the scene. The digger in this photo is not the vehicle involved.

Forestry Industry Safety Council (Fisc) national director Fiona Ewing said the accident was the sixth forestry-related death this year, with three others occurring during tree-felling, and three in or around vehicles.



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In an incident in Marlborough's Wairau Valley on August 17, a 20-year-old worker was killed after a skidder veered off a track and rolled approximately 250 metres.

In Tuesday's incident, emergency services gathered at the top of freshly cleared forestry land, with the Fire Service mobile command unit set up at the top of Makara Rd.

A search and rescue team set up ropes to get to the scene, on a hillside opposite Makara Rd. Numerous WorkSafe investigators could be seen arriving.

While emergency services could be seen on a logging road high up the valley, the crash site appeared to be deep down a steep and woody valley.

Ewing said 2017 had not been a good year for forestry fatalities.

"It's not acceptable for people to go to work and not come home," she said.

"It's an absolute tragedy for the family involved, and not just for the family, but for those that work with the individual and the community as well."

Fisc started operating in October 2015, and since then the occurrence of serious injuries had reduced, but fatalities were still too high, Ewing said.

FORESTRY DEATHS

2011 - 2

2012 - 6

2013 - 10

2014 - 1

2015 - 3

2016 - 4

2017 - 6