ITF urges health and safety focus as NZ port operator found responsible for dock death

The Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers’ Fed­er­a­tion is reit­er­at­ing the need for strin­gent health and safety meas­ures in ports after an oper­at­or in New Zea­l­and was found respons­ible for a water­side work­ers death.

A Wel­ling­ton court ruled in Janu­ary 2015 that steve­doring com­pany Centre­Port was to blame for the death of Mark Sam­oa who was a mem­ber of the ITF-affil­i­ated Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ).

47-year-old Sam­oa, a fath­er of three, was fatally injured when he was crushed between a fork­lift and cargo in Janu­ary 2013 while car­ry­ing out a ware­house pack­ing oper­a­tion.

The judge found that “Centre­Port failed to take all prac­tic­al steps to ensure the safety of Mr Sam­oa while at work.”

At the time of the tragedy the ITF sent con­dol­ences to the fam­ily and Mr Samoa’s com­rades at MUNZ, and pres­id­ent Paddy Crum­lin said that the tra­gic death only ‘hardened the resolve’ of the ITF fam­ily to ‘make sure every mari­time work­er comes home safely.’ View the full art­icle.

Speak­ing fol­low­ing the ver­dict Crum­lin said: “Ports are among the most dan­ger­ous work envir­on­ments in the world. That’s why we con­tin­ue to advoc­ate the need for man­age­ment to engage with uni­ons to ensure the best pos­sible health and safety con­di­tions for the work­force.

“This is a tough les­son to swal­low but we hope it will act as a remind­er to oper­at­ors that they have a com­mit­ment to pro­tect their work­ers and if they shirk that com­mit­ment they will be held account­able.”

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Joe Fleet­wood com­men­ted that good work safety meas­ures were now in place at Centre­Port but added it was a pity there had to be a tragedy for those pos­it­ive changes to come about.