POAL fined for workers’ fall

The fall left the stevedore temporarily unconscious with a fractured elbow.

POAL pleaded guilty to a charge laid by Maritime NZ under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees at work and was sentenced in Auckland District Court on 17 June 2016.

“This sentence highlights the need for those managing workers on board ships to ensure that not only are measures in place to ensure workers are safe, but that these measures are communicated properly,” said Harry Hawthorn, general manager maritime compliance, Maritime NZ.

“While the company stated it had a policy that stevedores stay at least 1.4m away from the edges where a fall could occur, this was not widely known by workers on the date of the incident. No requirement appears in documents used to train container lashers.”

The stevedore was working aboard the container ship Spirit of Independence on 11 October 2014, observing the foreman and another worker de-lash a container, when he stepped off the edge of the hatch lid and fell 2.78m to the deck.

In March 2015, POAL was fined NZ$55,000 and ordered to pay NZ$25,000 in reparation to a stevedore who suffered serious injuries unloading a container ship when he fell 15m from the top of a container.