Court Summary - at a glance
Date of offence:
23 September 2020
Plea:
Guilty
Decision:
Convicted
Final decision date:
Fine imposed:
$375,000
Safety lessons learned:
Smart Recruitment Limited failed to:
- ensure an effective safe system of work was in place for devanning and operating fork hoists, which was communicated to all workers and monitored;
- ensure that only trained and authorised workers operated fork hoists at the site and that fork hoists were operated with the use of a seat belt; and
- consult, co-operate and co-ordinate with Coda Services GP Limited so as to ensure that Smart Recruitment Limited workers were adequately inducted and supervised while working.
Defendant name:
Smart Recruitment Limited
Industry:
Postal, transport and warehousing
Date of offence:
23 September 2020
Facts in brief:
Coda Services GP Limited (Coda) operates a rail-served intermodal freight hub located at 113 Savill Drive, East Tamaki, Auckland (the site). Products from dairy companies are stored at and distributed from the site.
Smart Recruitment Limited (Smart) supplies temporary and permanent labour, predominately in warehousing, distribution and manufacturing, and was engaged by Coda to unload containers (a task referred to as devanning) at the site.
The victim, a 16 year old, was an employee of Smart. He signed his employment agreement with Smart on 8 March 2019 and began working at the site as a devanner on 11 March 2019. He only worked for Smart at the Coda site.
In the early afternoon of 23 September 2019 there were nine temporary workers on the site, six of whom were Smart employees. Mr Rikona and the victim were both at work for Smart on the site.
Mr Rikona was operating the fork hoist and was using it to move pallets. Sometime after 1pm Mr Rikona decided that the Victim “deserve[d] a jam” on the fork hoist. He had previously shown the victim how the gears and leavers worked and so told him to get on the fork hoist and move some pallets.
The victim moved one stack of pallets with the fork hoist without incident. On his return journey to collect more pallets, he steered the fork hoist to the right. During this manoeuvre the fork hoist lifted onto one side and tipped over. The victim was not wearing a safety belt. The fork hoist landed on top of him and he suffered fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Smart Recruitment Limited (Smart) supplies temporary and permanent labour, predominately in warehousing, distribution and manufacturing, and was engaged by Coda to unload containers (a task referred to as devanning) at the site.
The victim, a 16 year old, was an employee of Smart. He signed his employment agreement with Smart on 8 March 2019 and began working at the site as a devanner on 11 March 2019. He only worked for Smart at the Coda site.
In the early afternoon of 23 September 2019 there were nine temporary workers on the site, six of whom were Smart employees. Mr Rikona and the victim were both at work for Smart on the site.
Mr Rikona was operating the fork hoist and was using it to move pallets. Sometime after 1pm Mr Rikona decided that the Victim “deserve[d] a jam” on the fork hoist. He had previously shown the victim how the gears and leavers worked and so told him to get on the fork hoist and move some pallets.
The victim moved one stack of pallets with the fork hoist without incident. On his return journey to collect more pallets, he steered the fork hoist to the right. During this manoeuvre the fork hoist lifted onto one side and tipped over. The victim was not wearing a safety belt. The fork hoist landed on top of him and he suffered fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Related prosecutions:
Offence section:
Sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and 48(2)(c) Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
Date(s) charged:
22 September 2020
Court:
Manukau - District Court
Plea:
Guilty
Final decision date:
Decision:
Convicted
Fine imposed:
$375,000
Maximum fine available:
$1.5 million
Reparation:
Emotional harm - $110,000 total, $55,000 to be paid by each defendant
Costs - $15,065.46
Costs - $15,065.46
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