Family heartbroken over death that led to $540,000 Ports of Auckland fine

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

The late Laboom Dyer with his son, Noah. Dyer was 23 years old and working for Ports of Auckland when his straddle crane tipped, causing fatal injuries.

Six-year-old Noah Dyer says he wants to grow wings to visit his father who died in a Ports of Auckland workplace accident.

Laboom Dyer was killed after his straddle crane tipped in the early hours of August 27, 2018.

Ports of Auckland was fined $540,000 in the Auckland District Court and ordered to pay $130,000 in reparations to the Dyer family after admitting it had failed to protect Dyer's health and safety, risking his death.

The 23-year-old left behind a son, a family and his former partner, Natesha Reilly.

**READ MORE:

A straddle carrier at the Ports of Auckland. (File photo)

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Reilly wrote a victim impact statement to the court for Judge Evangelos Thomas at the sentencing on December 4.

Tua Dyer says everyone should be able to go to work and return safely to their family. His brother, Laboom (pictured), died in a crane accident at Ports of Auckland in August 2018.

The statement was not read in court but the family agreed to share it with Stuff.

She says she was told of Dyer’s death by his brother Tua Dyer, despite being listed as the emergency contact on company employment forms.

Reilly says Noah had insisted on sleeping next to her in her bed after his father died.

“Noah didn’t want me to leave, and he would always say to me, ‘Don’t leave like daddy did,’” she told the court.

Three gigantic cranes were added to Auckland's port in October 2018.

“For about a week after the incident Noah would say to me: ‘Doctors fix everyone – why couldn’t they fix daddy?’”

Two years on, the boy still keenly misses his father.

“More than ever, Noah senses his dad being around him and often makes comments about his dad or points and says that his dad is there but he is pointing to nothing that I can see.”

Reilly says Noah often asks about his father and how he died. He says: “I’m going to grow some wings and go and see daddy.”

Reilly told the court she has emailed Ports of Auckland, asking to be kept up to date on the company’s internal investigation.

She says the company told her Dyer’s mother was the next of kin, and they would only be discussing the findings with her.

Court documents show WorkSafe New Zealand had found a number of shortfalls in the port’s health and safety regime and training.

The straddle cranes that Laboom Dyer was driving are fitted with an alarm that sounds when the vehicle is in danger of tipping.

The port operated a bonus system that rewarded drivers who completed the most container movements but did not take into account tip alarm activations.

Laboom Dyer regularly received the bonus but also had one of the higher tip alarm rates.

Tua Dyer has issued a public challenge to Ports of Auckland on Facebook, demanding to know what has changed at the Auckland Council-owned company since his brother’s death.

So far, he has received support from friends and family but there has been no response from the company.

Tua Dyer used to work at Ports of Auckland himself and has friends still working there.

He would like to see the straddle cranes fitted with a mechanism that would cut their engine if the driver does not put on their seatbelt.

“Those are million-dollar machines. I don’t know why they don’t have that already.”

But he said some drivers don’t like wearing seatbelts because they restrict their ability to turn their bodies in their cabs and check for blind spots.

Since Laboom Dyer’s death, Ports of Auckland has been prosecuted in relation to two other fatal accidents.

Father of seven Pala’amo (Amo) Kalati was crushed to death under a container. The 31-year-old has been remembered for his “big grin and even bigger heart”.

Kalati, a stevedore who was understood to have only worked at Ports of Auckland for a couple of months, died in August on a ship at the Fergusson container terminal.

Another case involving Ports of Auckland ended with the company and one of its skippers fined after a pilot boat breaching the speed limit in Waitematā Harbour fatally hit ocean swimmer Leslie Gelberger in 2017.

The Auckland Council has commissioned an investigation into the port’s health and safety.

Stuff contacted Ports of Auckland for comment but the company did not respond before deadline.