The employer of a person who died this morning at the Ports of Auckland says the person fell to their death.
Photo: RNZ / Kymberlee Fernandes
Wallace Investments Limited general manager Felix van Aalst has released a statement confirming the "deeply sad" death.
He said it was too early to know complete details but confirmed "it was a fall from height".
Van Aalst said the company and its staff were devastated and their thoughts were with the person's friends and family.
In an earlier phone call another staff member said it was a man who had died.
Wallace Investments said it would fully cooperate with Maritime New Zealand's investigation, and undertake its own.
Earlier, Ports of Auckland confirmed a "serious incident" occurred this morning involving a stevedore employed by a third party.
Police said the person had died and emergency services were at the scene.
The incident was reported to police at 9.23am.
Ports of Auckland spokesperson Julie Wagener said they were investigating.
She said the incident occurred during the loading and unloading of freight.
In a statement, Ports of Auckland said work on the vessel stopped immediately and an official investigation had begun.
"This is tragic news and a shock to us all. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of the person involved."
Wallace Investments was one several of independent stevedoring companies that work at the port on behalf of shipping companies, the statement said.
"Ports of Auckland has the ultimate responsibility for everyone who comes onto the port site as the principle PCBU, a responsibility that drives all our decisions and actions. We will support Wallace Investments and Maritime New Zealand in their investigations and will support the implementation of any recommended corrective actions."
It is the fourth death linked to the Ports since 2017.
WorkSafe has been notified.
"There's a lot of pressure on workers to keep lifting the tempo" - Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison
Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison told Checkpoint the incident was a tragedy and reinforced the dangers port workers faced every day.
Harrison called for a national inquiry that should be overseen by the union and the government.
He said port workers were overrepresented in death statistics in comparison to other industries such as construction.
"We feature highly in serious harm and death [statistics]. And it's not a big industry.
"I think there's a mixture of stuff going on. A high expectation of the amount of hours to work, but also the demand through supply chain congestion, I think there's a lot of pressure on workers to keep lifting the tempo."
Although port work can be inherently dangerous, Harrison said any workplace can be made safe with the implementation of strict control measures.
He said the port industry's health and safety protocols were lagging behind similarly dangerous sectors like forestry.
"It's not like a worksite that changes all the time, the ports they've been there for a long long time, ships they basically have the same layout they don't seem to change, so, really we're lagging well behind other industry players."
Harrison said many ports around the country would struggle under a review on health and safety measures, with many employers relying on workers taking on huge hours.