A coroner's warning of the risks of DIY, after a Northland man was crushed and killed while fixing his ride-on lawnmower

Open Justice reports 75-year-old Ian McLarnon had lifted the back of the half-tonne machine with a forklift, so he could slide under it to work on the drive belt.

The mower slipped off the forklift's tongs and fell on him, fatally pinning him down.

Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave says McLarnon's death was easily preventable, by using a trolley jack, which would have been suitable to lift the machine's weight.

She says vehicles like this should be safely on support stands before people get under them.