"It just looks to be a freak accident," said James Hardway, spokesman for the DLIR. "They didn't find any infractions of the rules and their safety plan appears to be in order. His injuries probably would have been a lot more serious if he wasn't wearing a hard hat."

James Baynes of Forest Grove, Ore. was part of a four-person crew using a "non-explosive boulder buster" to turn large rocks into smaller ones at the scene of the April Waimea Bay rockslide.

The technique involves drilling a hole into a rock and filling it with water and a shotgun shell-like charge, said Baynes' boss, Chris Ingram, president of Oregon-based Hi-Tech Rockfall Construction, Inc.

But Hardway said the device used Monday actually involved a .22-caliber round.

"They set it off and the rock came flying out sideways," Hardway said.

Baynes was scheduled to be released from The Queen's Medical Center today, Ingram said.

Baynes suffered brain swelling and needed six stitches or staples to close a 2-inch gash behind his right ear, Ingram said.

Baynes was taken to Queen's in stable condition, but his condition worsened to critical at one point.

"He had a little bruising and bleeding and his brain swelled the first day," Ingram said.

Baynes is scheduled to fly home to Forest Grove, Ore., this weekend, "then have a little R&R for a few days" before flying out to New York for another rockslide removal project, Ingram said.