Ports of Auckland Ltd. Has been fined $49,980 and ordered to pay $12,000 in reparations after one of its employees fell nearly three metres off an unguarded edge of a hatch lid in 2014.

The stevedore was working aboard the container ship Spirit of Independence on October 11 and had been watching the foreman and another worker de-lash a container when he stepped off the edge of the hatch lid and fell 2.78m to the deck.

Port of Auckland Ltd. has been fined $49,980 and ordered to pay $12,000 in reparations. Photo: POAL

The hatch lid was 1.7m wide. No safety rails were fitted. The hatch lid was used to access containers because ladders on board the vessel were designed for people of small stature and not generally used by stevedores.

Maritime NZ Maritime Compliance general manager Harry Hawthorn says the sentence highlights the need for those managing workers on board ships to ensure measures are in place to ensure workers' safe and that those measures are communicated properly.

'POAL knew that stevedores frequently used the easier, faster option of walking across the hatch lid rather than using the ladders - but the lack of safety rails on the hatch was not identified at the ship specific safety briefing for stevedores.

'While the company stated it had a policy that stevedores stay at least 1.4m away from the edges where a fall could occur, this was not widely known by workers on the date of the incident. No requirement appears in documents used to train container lashers.”

Harry believes effective communication of the requirement to stay at least 1.4 metres from the edge where there's is a falling hazard may have reduced the likelihood of the stevedore falling.

In March 2015, POAL was fined $55,000 and ordered to pay $25,000 in reparation to a stevedore who suffered serious injuries unloading a container ship when he fell 15m from the top of a container.

POAL pleaded guilty to a charge laid by Maritime NZ under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees at work and was sentenced in Auckland District Court on Friday, June 17.