While details are yet to be confirmed, initial reports indicate that a stevedoring worker died after “a fall from height”, while he was working on the Singaporean-flagged container vessel Capitaine Tasman at the Ports of Auckland in New Zealand, according to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
“Disappointingly, this is not the first death in recent years to have taken place at the Ports of Auckland,” said ITF president and ITF Dockers’ Section chair, Paddy Crumlin, adding, “It is not good for any port or national industry to develop a reputation as an unsafe place to send your loved ones to work, wondering if they will come home at the end of their shift.”
The ITF is backing calls by the Maritime Union of New Zealand for a national inquiry into port safety following the unacceptable number of deaths and injuries that took place in New Zealand ports in recent years.
“Any workplace death is devastating for family and for those you work with, and especially in a close workplace community like stevedoring,” pointed out Crumlin, who expressed condolences on behalf of the global union federation and its hundreds of dockers’ affiliates, to the family and workmates of a Maritime Union of New Zealand member who was killed working at the Ports of Auckland.
Crumlin said that unions were reminding the community that safety on the job is non-negotiable in the run up to International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April.
