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Ports of Auckland Ltd was fined $ 540,000 after one of its workers was crushed and killed by a fallen crane.
Laboom Midnight Dyer, a 23-year-old father-of-one, suffered serious injuries after the gantry vehicle he was driving rolled over on August 27, 2018.
He was taken to Auckland City Hospital, but died five days later from his injuries.
In Auckland District Court on Friday, Judge Evangelos Thomas also awarded $ 130,000 in reparations to Dyer’s family.
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An aircraft carrier in the ports of Auckland (file photo)
The judge spoke directly to the family, sitting at the back of the court and apologizing for the two years it had taken to reach the sentencing date.
“We sympathize with you for what you have lost. We honor Laboom Dyer today and we always will. ”
The city-owned port company had previously admitted a charge of breach of duty exposing a person to the risk of death or serious injury.
Dyer’s death prompted a union leader to label the number of port-related deaths a “global epidemic.” The union called for higher regulations and better safety standards on New Zealand’s waterfront.
Dyer was driving a gantry crane and was sitting in the cab 40 feet above the ground when he made a U-turn at Fergusson Wharf. The crane tipped onto its left side and Dyer fell backward, sustaining fatal injuries.
Gantry cranes are eight-wheeled machines that lift and transport shipping containers across the docks.
Worksafe’s attorney, Barbarella McCarthy, said Worksafe identified a number of deficiencies in port security, including a lack of health and safety enforcement and a lack of training.
McCarthy acknowledged that Dyer was not wearing a seat belt and had been using his cell phone.
However, he said that Ports of Auckland had completely failed to monitor its own health and safety regime.
John Billington QC said the port company had changed its health and safety procedures and accepted responsibility.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Judge Evangelos Thomas paid tribute to the Dyer family and apologized for their two years of waiting for justice
Judge Thomas said the Worksafe investigation found that Ports of Auckland had failed to train its staff, monitor or enforce security plans.
“There was a systemic failure to install and maintain a culture of safety and compliance.”
The judge pointed to previous accidents, one in Auckland in 2009 and another later in Otago. Despite those incidents, Dyer’s accident still happened.
According to court documents, Worksafe found that while the gantry cranes had been equipped with rollover alarms, the drivers had not been trained on what to do when it was activated. Some drivers even believed that the gantry crane would apply the brakes automatically when it rang.
CCTV cameras in crane cabs failed to record health and safety compliance after opposition to union cameras.
There were more problems with driving training. The Straddle Manual contained important information on maximum speeds for cornering, but it was never provided to drivers.
Worksafe reported that drivers in Auckland ports said little or nothing was said about the risk of tipping over from gantry cranes.
That was endorsed by the Ports’ own training and health and safety worker, Grant Williams. Williams told Worksafe that when he started driving 20 years ago, there had been a greater emphasis on rollover risk, but over time that had decreased.
Williams is quoted in the agreed factual summary as saying: “In the last 10 years I feel that the coaches have not promoted this information. In fact, it’s almost as if they’ve veered off the road to deny that a rollover could occur.
Hannah Peters / Getty Images
Central Auckland container terminal ports where Laboom Dyer died.
The ports of Auckland had also introduced a rewards system that awarded bonuses to drivers who had the best productivity rates. However, the bonus system did not take into account the driver’s compliance with health and safety requirements.
At the time of its implementation in 2015, the New Zealand Maritime Union opposed the scheme. In a presentation to Ports, he said:
“MUNZ notes that there is no review system within the policy to ensure that work being completed is not being completed too quickly, exposing the employee and other employees to increased risk.”
Another gantry crane driver told Worksafe that only “dangerous drivers” got the maximum bonus rate because they broke the rules.
Dyer regularly received the bonus, but he also had one of the highest tip alarm rates.
The Worksafe investigation found that Dyer and another driver were warned by port authorities about their high tip alarm record. Both drivers questioned the ports’ bonus plan, asking how the company could reward drivers for their productivity while criticizing them for their speed.
The port health and safety representative told Worksafe that the bonus system was a financial incentive to work as quickly as possible and led to unsafe behavior.
“It seemed to attract younger new workers, especially young men. It appealed to their natural sense of competence and desire to be the best. I think it created an environment where they took more risks and that this was necessary to progress into other skills and roles. “
Auckland ports and one of its captains were indicted for another death in July and fined after a pilot boat violating the speed limit fatally struck ocean swimmer Leslie Gelberger.
Judge Kevin Phillips fined the company $ 424,000 and employer Grant More $ 8,400 for failing to meet their health and safety obligations and exposing a person to a risk of death or serious injury.
Gelberger died in April 2017 after being struck by the boat while swimming in Waitematā harbor.
Following Friday’s sentencing, the Maritime Union called for a change in the law that would allow managers and board chairs to be held individually responsible for workplace deaths.
“The corporate fines were simply a business cost,” says union secretary Craig Harrison.
“Managers who created unsafe work environments were not being held accountable. It is Auckland taxpayers who are paying for the failures of the administration. “
Harrison asked the government to conduct an investigation into how productivity pressures and fatigue were killing workers.
Mayor Phil Goff said a death like Dyer’s should never be repeated.
“When people go to work, they must go home to their families.”
He said he was concerned there were “systemic problems” at the Ports company and the council had launched an investigation into the company’s health and safety practices.
The council had also appointed attorney Hazel Armstrong to the Ports board. Armstrong specializes in ACC health and safety, employment and law.
