Lyttelton Port Company Sentenced Over 2022 Fatal Incident

The dangers of working with high risk machinery have been highlighted in the sentencing of a major South Island port company.

Today (31 July, 2024), the Lyttelton Port Company was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court after last November pleading guilty to one charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. The charge was filed by Maritime NZ, after stevedore Don Grant was killed when he was struck and killed by coal, on the deck of the bulk carrier ETG Aquarius, in April 2022.

"We want to extend our condolences to Mr Grant’s family, friends and colleagues. This was a tragic incident that should never have occurred.

"It is good Lyttelton Port Company took responsibility and pleaded guilty," Maritime NZ Director Kirstie Hewlett says.

About 1.2 million tonnes of coal is exported via LPC every year. The machinery used to move coal onto ships at the port has been in service for just over 50 years.

Don Grant was struck and killed when coal was being moved from the port via a conveyor belt, and loaded onto the ship by a jet-slinger. The jet-slinger propels coal into the ship’s hold.

At the time of the incident, Mr Grant was working as a "hatchman," and was stationed on the deck of the ship. In this role, he was giving directions via radio to the operator of the ship-loader, as to where the flow of coal should go into the hold of the ship. Mr Grant was following LPC’s procedures, and was standing in the position he was trained to.

"Our investigation found several safety failings by LPC in the management of risks for workers involved in the loading of coal.

"Included in the range of issues identified by the investigation was the hatchmen being located within the potential firing line of the jet-slinger. This meant if it was re-positioned, or moved without their knowledge, they’d be at risk of being struck by the coal.

There were a range of steps LPC should have taken to have provided a safe working environment.

"Loading coal is a known high-risk activity for LPC, and there were a lack of controls and policies in place around this specific activity.

There should have been more controls in place to reduce the potential of harm when coal was being loaded onto vessels at the port," Ms Hewlett says.

Since the incident, LPC has made changes to reduce the risk of hatchmen being struck by coal. These include, hatchmen standing in a designated safe zone, rules around when the coal can be poured to keep workers safe, and increasing CCTV overview.

"Since April 2022 there has been significant work across the ports sector to improve health and safety.

While this doesn’t change what has happened. We want to assure those working on ports and their families that improving health and safety on New Zealand’s ports has been a major priority" Ms Hewlett says.

SENTENCING NOTES:

A fine of $480,000 was imposed on LPC by Judge Keller, he adopted a starting point of $800,000 and came to the final amount after making adjustments.

The port was ordered to pay $35,000 in costs to Maritime NZ, and the Judge made an adverse publicity order requiring LPC to publish a statement about the incident. Information on adverse publicity orders is available here https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2015/0070/latest/DLM5977129.html . The adverse publicity order will see material detailing the incident in mainstream media, sector publications and on LPC’s own channels.

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