Port employee dies in hospital after serious workplace injury at Wellington's CentrePort
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
A worker at Wellington's CentrePort has died in hospital after sustaining serious head injuries at work a fortnight ago.
The port company said the 60-year-old man was injured in an empty container depot on January 31.
'It is a pretty tough situation and we are mourning the loss of a workmate,' CentrePort Chief Executive Derek Nind said on Tuesday.
Nind said the Wellington port, owned by regional ratepayers, was doing everything possible to support the man's family and colleagues.
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'He worked in a pretty small, tight team, and they're devastated by what happened.'
The port had an employee assistance programme available to staff who were distressed about the accident.
The Maritime Union of New Zealand was also aware of the fatal accident.
'Yet another worker has died on the job in New Zealand, and that's not good enough,' said national secretary Joe Fleetwood.
'Nobody should lose their life while trying to earn a living.'
The union said it would 'support with every means at its disposal the investigations now taking place into how this tragedy occurred.'
'The waterfront industry by its very nature is a high hazard workplace,' MUNZ assistant Wellington branch secretary John Whiting said.
'Safe work practices must be rigorously implemented and enforced, both by management and by organised workers ourselves. Otherwise the worst can happen.'
A WorkSafe spokesman confirmed the agency was alerted to the fatal accident.
He said CentrePort was co-operating.
The port company was also conducting its own investigation.
A CentrePort spokesman said the company was liaising every day with the family.
In 2013, CentrePort worker Mark Samoa was killed when a forklift driver failed to see him and pushed two packs of paper pulp together, crushing him.
The company was fined In 2015 after worker Samoa's death.
The port's former chief executive, Blair O'Keefe, said CentrePort was focused on supporting Samoa's family and making improvements.