Charges on port death denied
Former Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson has pleaded not guilty to two charges in relation to the death of a worker who was crushed under a container in 2020.
The charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act are unprecedented for an executive of a major New Zealand firm and could bring $400,000 in fines if Gibson is found guilty.
Gibson was charged on August 13, 2021, a year after stevedore Pala’amo (Amo) Kalati was crushed when a container was dropped during a night shift. Kalati, 31, a father of seven, died on a ship at the Fergusson Container Terminal.
Gibson was charged under Sections 48 and 49 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, relating to “failing to comply with duty that exposes individual to risk of death or serious injury or serious illness”.
Because Gibson is an individual who was a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), or an officer of a PCBU, he could be fined up to $300,000 if found guilty of Section 48 and $100,000 if found guilty of Section 49.
His lawyer, John Billington, QC, confirmed to the Weekend Herald Gibson had pleaded not guilty to the two charges on Thursday.
Gibson had been set to appear in the Auckland District Court on May 24 to provide his plea, but the written plea was made and the hearing has been rescheduled for October 10.
“It’s been adjourned . . . for a case management review hearing following a plea of not guilty. The act provides that you can enter a plea in writing,” Billington said.
“You only have to attend if you’re liable to imprisonment. So it’s dealt with administratively on that basis. That’s the provision in the act that’s applied. There’s nothing magic about it. It’s just how non-custodial cases can be dealt with.”
Gibson resigned as Ports chief executive in May last year.
On April 19 this year, the fourth worker death at the Ports of Auckland since 2017 has led Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood to order a review of ports operations nationwide.
Ports of Auckland has also been charged with reckless conduct in respect of a health and safety duty in relation to the death of Kalati in 2020.
The charges related to failing to comply with a duty that exposes an individual to the risk of death or serious injury and adverse conduct for a prohibited health and safety reason.
The Ports could be fined up to $3 million if convicted.
Maritime New Zealand filed the charges against Gibson and the Ports in August last year.
The Maritime Union’s Auckland branch secretary, Russell Mayne, was unaware Gibson and the Ports charges had been rescheduled from next week to October when speaking on the case yesterday afternoon.
Mayne and the Maritime Union had welcomed the charges when they were handed down in August 2021.
Ports of Auckland’s 2021 annual report revealed a payout to Gibson of nearly $1.8 million on his departure. This was a jump on his $820,000 salary the previous year.
At the time of Kalati’s death, Ports of Auckland said it was “absolutely devastated by the death”.
“We are a big wha¯nau here at the port, so everyone is deeply affected by what has happened,” said the company on its Facebook page.