Auckland port deaths: Transport Minister calls for 'hard look' at company

Thursday, 10 September 2020

Workers at the Ports of Auckland told Stuff safety standards are much lower and work is faster during night shifts.

The Transport Minister says it’s time for a hard look at the Ports of Auckland after three deaths in as many years linked to lax health and safety.

Phil Twyford also called into question the controversial 12-hour graveyard shifts operated by the company, during which the two latest fatalities happened.

His comments come as pressure mounts on the company following the death of father-of-seven Pala’amo (Amo) Kalati, who was crushed to death by a container aboard a ship early on August 30.

After his death, Maritime NZ took the rare move of issuing the company with a notice to improve safety

* Auckland port death: Raft of safety breaches before man was crushed by container

* Auckland wharfies make claims of lax safety, near-miss before man was crushed

The notice, obtained by Stuff, shows the regulator quickly uncovered a series of safety and procedural breaches in the moments before the 31-year-old was crushed. A joint Maritime NZ and police investigation into the death is ongoing.

Current and former workers have come forward to describe a cavalier attitude to safety on the night shifts, where speed and productivity come at the expense of safety, along with a series of near misses and safety breaches they experienced.

Twyford, who is MP for the Te Atatū electorate in West Auckland, said his heart went out to Kalati’s family and workmates

Transport Minister Phil Twyford says his heart goes out to the family of killed port worker Amo Kalati.

“This was a preventable tragedy.”

The Maritime Union has called for an end to the 12-hour graveyard shifts, describing them as a recipe for disaster.

Asked whether workers should be working 12-hour shifts lashing containers or driving heavy machinery at the port overnight, Twyford appeared to support the union’s view.

“Personally, I would have thought it’s highly questionable.

“But my opinion is not what actually counts here. There needs to be a solid plan that involves the whole sector based on evidence.”

That plan refers to a nationwide health and safety plan begun two years ago.

“In 2018, I was concerned about deaths and serious injuries in the ports, and I called Maritime New Zealand into my office and asked for a briefing on the health and safety situation on the ports and what was being done about it.”

The plan remains a draft as consultation continues.

Maritime New Zealand and Worksafe, the agencies responsible for safety on ships and on the wharves respectively, had the option of undertaking a joint assessment of the situation at the port, covering its practices and policies, he said.

“It’s not my call, but I would have thought that three fatalities at the port of Auckland in less than three years mean it’s time to take a pretty hard look at what’s going on there.”

A Ports of Auckland spokesman declined to respond to the minister’s comments.

It'll cost twice the price of a diesel tug, but Ports of Auckland's e-tug will be cheaper long term (first published June 2019).

Worksafe head of general inspectorate Jo Pugh said her agency and Maritime NZ have been running a series of joint assessments at New Zealand’s 13 major ports since April 2019.

They mainly focussed on the cross-over risks on ports that both agencies had a role in managing, such as transferring cargo on and off ships, she said.

Maritime NZ compliance systems delivery deputy director Pelin Fantham said that following the latest fatal accident, the Ports of Auckland joint assessment would focus on “systemic issues within the port”.

It would also look at the effectiveness of maritime border controls at preventing Covid-19 from entering New Zealand, Fantham said.

The joint assessment at Ports of Auckland will happen in late September and early October.

Since 2017, there have been three deaths associated with health and safety breaches involving Ports of Auckland.

Laboom Midnight Dyer, 23, suffered critical injuries after a straddle carrier he was driving tipped to its side on August 27, 2018.

He died in hospital five days later. Ports of Auckland admitted a health and safety charge in August 2020 at Auckland District Court.

Before Kalati and Dyer’s deaths, a company pilot boat accidentally struck and killed ocean swimmer Leslie Gelberger.

The company was fined $424,000, and skipper Grant More fined $8400, for failing to comply with health and safety duties and exposing an individual to a risk of death or serious injury.

In March 2015, the port was fined $55,000 and ordered to pay $25,000 to stevedore Neil Bower after he broke several bones in a 15-metre fall the previous year.

Bower fell from a container and hit a crane beam and the wharf before landing in the water.

Months after Bower’s injury, in October 2014, a stevedore was injured after falling through an unprotected hatch aboard a ship. The company was fined $50,000 following a prosecution by Maritime New Zealand.

In the past eight years at least 13 workers have died aboard ships or at ports in New Zealand, according to Worksafe data.