Dismissal of Gibson Appeal a Major Win for Workers’ Safety

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has wel­comed the High Court’s deci­sion to dis­miss the appeal of for­mer Ports of Auck­land Chief Exec­u­tive Tony Gib­son, call­ing the rul­ing a major vic­to­ry for work­ers.

The High Court upheld Gibson’s ear­li­er con­vic­tion under the Health and Safe­ty at Work Act, which result­ed in a $130,000 fine and an order to pay $60,000 in costs.

The pros­e­cu­tion fol­lowed the death of 31-year-old steve­dore Pala’amo Kalati, who was killed by a falling con­tain­er at the port in August 2020.

“At the heart of this case is an entire­ly pre­ventable loss of life.”

“This ver­dict is a vin­di­ca­tion for work­ers who have long warned about sys­temic safe­ty fail­ures on our water­fronts, but it does not bring back a lost work­mate, father, and friend.”

MUNZ com­mends indus­try reg­u­la­tor Mar­itime New Zealand for its com­mit­ment to pur­su­ing this pros­e­cu­tion.

The court’s find­ings con­firmed that Gib­son had the knowl­edge, influ­ence, and resources to address crit­i­cal safe­ty gaps at the port yet failed to exer­cise his due dili­gence to do so.

Mr Find­lay says that MUNZ will now pur­sue the intro­duc­tion of cor­po­rate manslaugh­ter laws in New Zealand.

“When exec­u­tive fail­ures direct­ly result in a work­er’s death, senior man­agers and direc­tors must face the very real out­come of crim­i­nal lia­bil­i­ty and impris­on­ment.”