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Report shows major safety issues for port workers

A report into two separate workplace deaths at New Zealand ports has identified major safety issues within the stevedoringindustry. It found that safety regulations were not up to standard. The issues included insufficient regulatory oversight, a lack of industry-wide safety standards, and a lack of the formal safety management oversight and monitoring that is required of other industries. The report, made public on Oct 20, 2023, was compiled by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) as a result of inquiries into the deaths of Atiroa Tuaiti and Don Grant. More from Stuff: Tuaiti was killed on April 19, 2022, when he was crushed by a 40-foot container at the Port of Auckland, where he was working as a stevedore. Less than a week later, Don Grant was killed at Lyttelton Port after he was buried under coal as it was being loaded onto the 'ETG Aquarius'. Tuaiti was employed by Wallace Investments Limited (WIL), an independent stevedoring company operating at the Port of Auckland, while Grant was employed by the Lyttelton Port Company (LPC). Port of Auckland incident On the day of the incident at the Port of Auckland, Tuaiti was among a group of workers tasked with loading 47 containers onto a vessel berthed at the port. Tuaiti was a hold operator, and when a containerwas being lowered onto the vessel, Tuaiti was positioned on a tier of containers below, from which he hand-signalled to the crane operator. When the container was suspended approximately 1,5 meters above the first tier, another crew member on the main deck saw Tuaiti bend down and move underneath the suspended container, reaching with his arm toward the aft port side of the container. Almost immediately after observing this, the crew member saw the container lower, leaving Tuaiti pinned beneath it. The container was raised a little, and Tuaiti fell onto the main deck. Emergency assistance arrived within 10 minutes, but he died at the scene. The TAIC report said it was likely that Tuaiti had moved underneath the container to rectify an issue with the aft port-side twist lock. The other hold operator on the scene was unaware of Tuaiti’s position when they signalled to the crane operator to lower the container, and it was unlikely that the crane operator would have been able to see him moving underneath the container. On the day of the incident at Lyttelton Port, Grant was working as a coal signalman. He was positioned onboard the 'ETG Aquarius' at a raised section of deck around the cargo hatch to observe the coal loading into the holds and provide instructions via radio to the ship-loader operator. Throughout the loading process, coal flowed from a jet slinger machine continuously. Usually, the flow of coal was only stopped by the ship-loader operator when it was necessary to move the ship-loader between cargo holds. While the coal was being loaded, the foreman, who was not onboard the vessel, used a hand-held radio to check in with the ship-loader operator to determine how much coal was still to be loaded. At one point, some of the coal began to spill over the raised section at the approximate location where Grant was standing. About this time, Grant almost certainly fell off the platform he was standing on and as he fell, his helmet came off, and he hit his head on the deck. After 23 seconds of radio silence, the ship-loader operator asked Grant if he was all right but received no reply. After someone radioed for assistance, three stevedores and some of the vessel’s crew began searching the coal and found Grant unresponsive near the base of the platform he had been standing on. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The TAIC found that both Wallace Investments and Lyttelton Port Company were in the process of improving their safety systems at the time, but there were deficiencies common to both organisations. The commission found the risks associated with work activity were primarily managed with administrative risk controls, but there were no robust processes to ensure that these controls remained effective. The commission said a “lack of cohesiveness” within the stevedoring industry meant the companies had little ability to benchmark comprehensively with others in the industry. There were no best practice guidelines, no minimum training requirements and few safety-related information-sharing platforms. One of the key lessons the commission identified in the report was that people who work in high-risk industries are not necessarily exposed to regular adverse events, and become desensitised to the risk. Report with photos: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133156609/major-safety-issues-flagged-after-port-workers-buried-by-coal-and-crushed-to-death

Port worker crushed by coal

A port worker was crushed by coal while loading the 'ETG Aquarius', which was berthed at Cashin Quay in Lyttelton, in the morning of April 25. Three ambulances and two fire appliances responded to the incident shortly before 9.30 a.m. The ship had arrived at the port on April 22 en route from Tianjin. Martime New Zealand was investigating the death. and the police conducted enquiries in relation to the death on behalf of the Coroner.