A young New Zealand docker died yesterday after his straddle crane overturned at Ports of Auckland at 3:45am on August 27.
Paddy Crumlin, ITF Dockers’ Section chair and national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, commented: “Another dockworker, has been killed at work. This is fast becoming a global epidemic. We know that ports are among the most dangerous workplaces in the world but every workplace death is preventable.”
This latest death comes after calls from the Maritime Union of New Zealand to the director of maritime New Zealand, Keith Manch, for enforceable regulations and improved safety standards on the New Zealand waterfront, following three deaths in New Zealand in 2017.
Joe Fleetwood, general secretary of MUNZ said yesterday: “This tragic death indicates again the urgent need for enforceable regulations together with mandatory standards of work practices across the New Zealand waterfront. If the government, port companies and stevedoring employers are serious about preventing deaths on the waterfront they must commit to reform the current lack of enforceable regulations. We need to put an end to the toxic culture on the New Zealand waterfront where productivity and profit prevails over safety.”
