Documents destroyed in attempted cover-up during investigation into accident that left worker with brain injury

Monday, 24 April 2023

A company head and his brother lied over a workplace incident involving an employee exposed to toxic fumes.

In Nelson District Court on Monday, Steven Patrick John Sullivan, 57, managing director of Nelson firm Aimex, pleaded guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice. His brother, Aimex’s health and safety officer, William (Bill) Masfield Trevor Sullivan, 61, had earlier pleaded guilty to making a false statement.

Aimex, a marine engineering company, operates from a large workshop at Nelson Port, employing more than 100 staff. Steven Sullivan remains the firm’s managing director.

In 2021, the company was fined $340,000 for a 2019 incident where a worker was exposed to a toxic vapour that left him with a long-term brain injury. The employee (Employee A) had been working in the hull of a boat, using brake cleaner.

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The current charges relate to the WorkSafe investigation of the incident. When investigators looked into the 2019 incident, they became aware there had been a similar incident the week before, involving the same boat, and the same brake cleaner.

During this incident, the employee, referred to as Employee B, “… became overcome with fumes, he recognised the symptoms and self-evacuated from the situation immediately”.

Employee B recorded the incident on his time sheet, writing that he was “lightheaded”. He discussed the incident with William Sullivan, who completed an incident report.

William raised the report with the general manager. However, it was not brought up at any daily staff meetings, and when WorkSafe spoke with William, he denied there had been any incidents.

“Not that I know of, no,” William told them.

WorkSafe quizzed him about Employee B’s time sheet, asking him if looked familiar. At first, William said it did not. Then he changed tack, saying “that’s just rung a bell with me”.

William told investigators he would check his diary and provide paperwork. However, he did not provide any.

Meanwhile, Steven Sullivan told a contractor hired to review the company he had found “no record that the incident had ever occurred”, a claim he reiterated during meetings with his lawyers.

However, by this time, Steven was aware of the incident report, and that it had been destroyed by an employee during the WorkSafe investigation, the police summary said.

When the contractor asked Steven why he had misled him, the managing director told him: “as far as he was concerned once the document was destroyed it never existed”, the summary said.

“[Steven] did this to reduce the penalty his company received,” the summary said.

At Aimex’s sentencing, the company received a 10% discount on their sentence based on their good previous track record. While the previous incident was acknowledged, at the time there was no evidence to show Aimex was aware of it.

A few months later, in July 2021, Aimex’s new chief operating officer (COO) became aware that actions had been taken by employees to “cover up” Employee B’s incident report.

William told the COO he had given Employee B’s incident report to the general manager, who no longer worked for the company.

“[William] admitted to the COO that he had not told WorkSafe about the matter when interviewed even though he had knowledge of the incident,” the summary said.

Police launched an investigation, searching the general manager’s home and locating a copy of the incident report they had saved.

Judge Garry Barkle convicted the pair. They will be sentenced on 21 July.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the brothers lied to investigators. Steven Sullivan admitted deception relating to instructions to his lawyers. The article has also been clarified to link the deception to an earlier incident discovered during an investigation into a similar, more serious incident. Amended: 10.35am, April 25