Training death of diver Zachary Yarwood: Defense Forces fined $ 288,000

The New Zealand Defense Force has been fined more than $ 288,000 for exposing six divers to the risk of death or serious injury during a dive that claimed the life of Zachary Yarwood.

The fine was issued today in Auckland District Court, after the fatal submergence at Devonport Naval Base in March last year.

The trained Navy communications technician did not respond during a training exercise and later died in hospital. He was only 23 years old.

The NZDF failed to ensure that the divers were effectively supervised during training and did not have the correct number of supervisory personnel present, a court determined.

It also failed to ensure that all divers who participated, including instructors, had valid Certificates of Proficiency for diving, the court heard.

Resistance week

In March 2019, the students participated in a course known as “Skilled Diver Course – Mine Warfare”.

Day 25 marked the start of “Endurance Week” in which the goal was to test capacity under controlled pressure and sustained fatigue.

That day, the trainees had already completed two dives, totaling more than six hours underwater, before beginning the night dive.

The fatal dive

Jackstay’s lines traversed the seabed, perpendicular to the pier, to create two spaces on either side of a pontoon where two supervisors were.

“There should have been four supervisors present, just two,” said Judge Eddie Paul.

The divers worked in two groups of three, one on each side of the pontoon.

Two divers on each team would hold one end of the hitch line each and pull it along as they moved up and down the Jackstay lines.

The third diver sailed in the middle, swimming along the trap, releasing it if necessary. Yarwood was the itinerant diver in his group.

Each diver’s position was marked by an attached surface float, which was made visible in the dark water by light bars.

About 90 minutes later, a float belonging to a diver from the other group was trapped in a boat.

At this time, it was unlikely that someone was monitoring the Yarwood group, Judge Paul said.

All the students were called to the surface.

However, when Yarwood’s teammate swam through the hitch line to regroup before surfacing, he found the 23-year-old face down and unconscious.

The teammate conducted an emergency drill on the Yarwood dive team, called for help, and removed his weight belt so they could both surface.

Yarwood later died in hospital from lack of oxygen.

The WorkSafe investigation found that the divers in training were doing a gas switch trick, unknown to NZDF, as it allowed them to dive longer.

It was a trick that exposed them to the risk of hypoxia, the court heard.

According to court documents, a medical expert later opined that the stunt was “extraordinarily dangerous” and was the “only plausible cause of the event.”

Subsequent observations suggested that Yarwood was doing this trick while diving, the court heard.

While the failures of the Defense Force created risks, they did not cause Yarwood’s death in the sense that they were not a “substantial or operational cause” of his becoming hypoxic, according to court documents.

WorkSafe prosecutor Ben Finn said that NZDF had been conducting an inherently high-risk activity, involving many trainees in crimes that occurred multiple times that day.

NZDF had not been following its own specific health and safety guidance, he said.

“You should be responsible for taking shortcuts in a high-risk area like this.”

Defense attorney Samantha Turner said the NZDF was very open about her remorse for what happened and pleaded guilty early.

They were not “arrogant in their approach to training” or in any way trying to cut corners, the risks were known in a way that had become normalized.

The court heard that they had recognized the risk and had tried to manage it in other ways, such as making sure all divers were fit.

Judge Paul fined NZDF $ 288,750 and ordered them to pay court costs of $ 2629.

Navy ‘let Zach down’

Emily Parr told the court that she had not only lost her fiancé that day, but also her best friend.

“My worst fear was losing Zach, he knew it and assured me that he would be fine.”

He remembered asking him what would happen if he ever lost consciousness during a dive and he had replied that others would take him to the top.

“Absolutely no one was there for Zach that night.”

It made her feel sick to know that he might have pulled the line five times for help and no one saw him, she said.

The Court of Investigation showed several reasons why the dive should never have been done, he said.

“Knowing that Zach’s death could have been so easily prevented is something I really struggle with.”

Said she felt lost without him.

“There are no words to describe the pain, pain and suffering that I feel.

“The Navy has let me down and, honestly, it has ruined my life.

“But most importantly, you disappointed Zach.”

Yarwood’s mother, Liz, wanted to speak in court today to fight for justice.

She said she was still incredibly angry at the Navy and also at WorkSafe for not imposing a higher charge.

She had dedicated her life to raising her children.

Yarwood had excelled in school in math, physics and sports, he said.

“I taught him to reach for the stars and never give up. I really feel guilty saying that now.”

She was proud when he joined the Navy and then, at just 17 years old, the promising young man had almost every path open for him.

Now he struggled with the knowledge that not everyone involved in the dive had the proper qualifications, he said.

“I have recurring dreams of what happened that night, him lying at the bottom of the seabed.”

How devastating he was left to die while simply training, he said.

‘Dangerous’ environment

After the sentencing, the Chief of the Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor, told the media that the loss of a sailor during training was never acceptable.

“I cannot promise that this will never happen again. The environment in which our divers operate is inherently dangerous, as is the training environment.”

But he was committed to making it as safe as possible.

It was “not good enough” that there were not enough supervisors on the night of the dive, a practice he claimed top leadership did not know was happening.

He described the lack of supervisors as a failure he would regret forever.