Fishing companies failed to swiftly probe death
The companies responsible for the fishing vessel on which a Nelson man drowned failed to launch an immediate internal investigation into his death, a court has been told.
Mark William Sweeny died, aged 53, on board the Antarctic Chieftain longliner while it was returning from Mauritius to Nelson on September 23, 2012.
An autopsy concluded that he drowned after falling into a ballast tank full of water.
On the second day of coroner Carla na Nagara’s inquest into his death yesterday, it was revealed that Sweeny’s employers, Sealord and Australian Longline, did not conduct an immediate internal investigation.
It was not until they were prompted by lawyers, who were preparing for legal proceedings, that an investigation report was produced.
‘‘Would you agree with me that those are not the actions of two organisations that are devastated by the tragic loss of an employee of some years?’’ lawyer Duncan Ferrier asked Sealord and Australian Longline representative Thomas McLean.
‘‘Yes,’’ McLean said.
The failure by the companies to launch an internal investigation was also in breach of their health and safety systems.
‘‘At a formal level the company didn’t respond in an organised way to a fatality,’’ na Nagara said.
However, steps have been taken to improve the safety of the access hatch to the tank where Sweeny died.
The hatch has been made bigger and a grate can be fitted over the hole when it is open.
An external suction pipe has also been installed so there is no need for anyone to enter the tank when pumping out ballast water.
Sweeny died while he was pumping ballast water out of the ship.
It was a job he had done several times before and one that did not require him to enter the tank.
Ferrier asked McLean whether he had any idea why Sweeny would have gone into the tank.
‘‘In theory, the only one I can come up with was that he dropped something and gone in after it,’’ McLean said.
Dr Michael Miskow, who performed the autopsy, concluded that Sweeny was affected by abnormal amounts of hydrogen sulphide and thiosulphate.
These chemicals are decomposition gases that can cause con- fusion, fatigue, nausea and other problems.
The tank Sweeny was pumping had been used to store fish scraps, which could produce decomposition gases, but it had been carefully cleaned and filled with water.
There would usually be two gas detection meters on the ship, but during the trip back to Nelson there were none.
The inquest was adjourned yesterday and na Nagara said it could take several months to consider further evidence and attempt to contact other witnesses.
She visited the Antarctic Chieftain at Port Nelson last night to see the area where Sweeny died.