Kiwirail sentenced after man pinned between trucks on Interislander ferry

The incident happened on the Kaitaki in October 2020. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A man who broke several ribs when he was pinned between two trucks on the Interislander ferry says he still can't work two years on from the incident.

Kiwirail and Higgins Tow Services (HTS) were today sentenced in the Wellington District Court for the incident, which has left the victim with ongoing pain and breathing problems.

Judge Ian Mill has fined the two companies and ordered they jointly pay $58,000 in reparation to the victim.

HTS were loading freight trucks onto the Kaitaki ferry on October 24, 2020, prior to its 9am departure time, the summary of facts said.

The victim, an HTS driver of 12 years, drove a truck and trailer unit onto the vessel, got out, and walked into an unoccupied lane.

Another driver, who started working for HTS in February 2020, drove into the lane the victim was walking in. The driver had not completed a Kiwirail induction.

He briefly paused at the entry point as he was about to clip his wing mirror on a pillar.

While his truck was paused, there was a narrow gap between the front left edge of his vehicle and the back right of the truck the victim had just parked.

The victim turned sideways to walk between the two trucks.

As he was doing this, the driver of the other truck started to drive again, pinning the victim between the two trucks for about one minute, the summary said.

He was taken to hospital shortly after, where he was treated for three rib fractures. The Kaitaki departed as scheduled, about 9am.

Kiwirail notified WorkSafe of the incident about 9.40am and did not notify Maritime New Zealand until 1pm. HTS notified neither group.

"Maritime New Zealand was unable to secure the vessel for inspection as a result of the vessel already having sailed," the summary noted.

Shortly after the incident, CCTV footage identified a Kiwirail employee walking down the same gap while the driver's truck was still moving.

Maritime NZ's investigation revealed footage of people, including young children and the elderly, wandering around the ferry alongside moving vehicles, "clearly confused about the location of the exit" and stepping over lashings on the floor.

In his impact statement read out in court today, the victim said he had been suffering ongoing and worsening pain since the incident.

He had developed a "severe breathing condition" as a result of the injury, he said.

His hips and knees were also damaged from the "twisting and spinning nature of the accident" and he was in so much pain he couldn't even kneel to pray.

He tried to return to work last year but the pain became too much to bear and he went back onto ACC.

Both Kiwirail and HTS have pleaded guilty to exposing an individual to a risk of harm and failing to notify the regulator of an event. Kiwirail has also admitted failing to preserve the site of an event.

Judge Ian Mill said it was clear from the victim impact statement his suffering was "considerable". He ordered $28,000 financial reparation and $30,000 emotional harm reparation.

Kiwirail was to pay 60 per cent of this, with Higgins making up the rest.

Judge Mill noted HTS had loaded vehicles onto countless ships for many years without incident, which he said could at least partly be attributed to their operating procedures.

"It couldn't have just been good luck that nothing happened previously."

But the risk of the driver and Kiwirail employees not being able to see the spot where the victim was pinned should have been anticipated and provided for, he said.

He fined Kiwirail $240,500 and HTS $174,000.