The Singapore-based China Navigation Company PTE Limited has been fined and ordered it to pay reparations after a stevedore was seriously injured when he fell from one of the company's ships in Tauranga.
China Navigation was charged under the Maritime Transport Act, which prohibits "dangerous activity involving ships or maritime products" (section 65).
The company pleaded guilty in the Tauranga District Court and fined $24,000 and was ordered to pay reparations of $30,000.
Maritime NZ central region compliance manager Michael-Paul Abbott said the 28-year-old stevedore fell 8m onto a concrete wharf after a handrail broke on the log carrier, Pakhoi, on December 19 2017.
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According to a summary of the incident supplied by Maritime NZ, the stevedore shattered bones in his legs and arms, fractured vertebrae and suffered severe internal injuries in the fall.
He was saved from serious head injury by his helmet and his backpack riding up under his head as he fell, the summary said.
He remained in hospital for 56 days following the incident and underwent a number of surgeries.
The handrail had broken in India and been poorly repaired, but no one on the ship's crew told the stevedoring company.
Abbott said: "Shipping companies must ensure they carry out maintenance correctly and if there are any risks from using equipment on the ship they must tell people using the ship so they can protect themselves.
"Shipping companies and other employers will be held to account if they operate a ship in a way that risks injuring or endangering workers and other people in New Zealand."
Maritime NZ also charged the injured man's employer, Mount Maunganui stevedoring company, ISO Limited, under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Maritime NZ said the action against ISO had been resolved by Maritime NZ agreeing to an enforceable undertaking with ISO to make significant investments into various programmes aimed at improving health and safety for stevedores at work.
Details of the enforceable undertaking will be released soon. ISO has also supported the stevedore and his family, Maritime NZ said.
The Court noted the maximum penalty for this offence was $100,000 under the MTA, contrasted with $1.5 million under the HSWA. An overseas shipping company cannot be charged under the HSWA.
The Court heard the case on May 20 2020 and has now issued its decision.
The Bay of Plenty Times approached both companies for comment.