Maritime Union demands tougher penalties for reckless managers

The Mari­time Uni­on wants man­agers and board chairs held indi­vidu­ally account­able for work­place deaths.

Mari­time Uni­on Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says tough­er pen­al­ties were needed fol­low­ing the sen­ten­cing of Ports of Auck­land Lim­ited (POAL) today for their role in the death of a young work­er and fath­er.

On 27 August 2018, 23-year old Laboom Dyer died at the Ports of Auck­land after the Straddle Car­ri­er he was oper­at­ing tipped over dur­ing night shift.

Earli­er this year, POAL admit­ted being guilty of fail­ing to com­ply with a duty that exposes an indi­vidu­al to risk of death or ser­i­ous injury or ser­i­ous ill­ness under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

At a sen­ten­cing today at the Auck­land Dis­trict Court, Judge Evan­gelos Thomas fined POAL $540,000 and awar­ded $130,000 in repar­a­tions to Mr Dyer’s fam­ily.

Mr Har­ris­on says seni­or man­agers and board chairs need to be held indi­vidu­ally account­able for reck­less­ness under cur­rent laws.

Cor­por­ate fines were simply a busi­ness cost, and man­agers who cre­ated unsafe work envir­on­ments were not being held account­able, he says.

It is the rate pay­ers of Auck­land who are pay­ing for the fail­ures of man­age­ment, says Mr Har­ris­on.

“Until those man­agers who have a duty of care to their work­force are pro­sec­uted for reck­less­ness under the Health and Safety at Work Act, we will con­tin­ue to see a cul­ture of profit before safety.”

Mr Har­ris­on says a pro­ductiv­ity bonus sys­tem opposed by the uni­on had con­trib­uted to the cul­ture at Ports of Auck­land which has led to the sen­ten­cing today.

He says the Mari­time Uni­on had raised con­cerns over the driv­ing cul­ture and man­age­ment had been aware of the prob­lem before the death of Mr Dyer.

Mr Har­ris­on says man­age­ment were well aware of how the Straddle Car­ri­ers were oper­at­ing in the port as the Straddle Car­ri­ers auto­mat­ic­ally repor­ted safety incid­ents.

It was only after this incid­ent that man­age­ment took steps to change the cul­ture.

There have been numer­ous pre­vent­able deaths on the New Zea­l­and water­front and anoth­er had occurred in 2020 at Ports of Auck­land, says Mr Har­ris­on.

The May­or of Auck­land Phil Goff had recently ordered an inquiry into health and safety at Ports of Auck­land, which is owned by Auck­land City through its busi­ness arm.

Mr Har­ris­on says the Gov­ern­ment must widen this inquiry to a nation­al level and look at how pro­ductiv­ity pres­sures and fatigue were killing work­ers.