Maritime News – Port industry welcomes Approved Code of Practice for loading and unloading cargo at ports and on ships

The port industry enthusiastically welcomes the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for loading and unloading cargo at ports and on ships coming into effect today, November 29.

For the first time, all commercial ports in New Zealand now have a code of practice approved by the Minister to follow. The ACOP replaces all other existing industry codes of practice related to stevedoring.

The Port Health and Safety Leadership Group – made up of ports and stevedoring companies, the Port Industry Association, unions and Maritime NZ – is pleased to see one of its key priorities under its multi-year work programme to address inconsistency of practice and reduce harm on New Zealand’s ports, come into force.

The ACOP has now been signed by the Minister for Work Place Relations and Safety, Hon Brooke van Velden, and the Associate Minister for Transport, Hon Matt Doocey.

A criticism of the current health and safety system from several industries’ leaders has been that it does not have the regulations, approved codes of practice and guidance to support businesses to understand what they need to do to comply with the law.

Leadership Group Chair, Director of Maritime NZ, Kirstie Hewlett, said the ACOP provides assurance and clarity under the Health and Safety at Work Act. If a business can show what they have done is equivalent to or better than the requirements in the ACOP, then they are likely to be meeting the test of what is reasonably practicable under HSWA.

Maritime NZ will take the ACOP into account when undertaking inspections, assessments and investigations and when deciding the appropriate enforcement action. Courts may also take the ACOP into account in their deliberations.

The National President of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, Aubrey Wilkinson, said the focus is rightly on loading and unloading ships because that is the most dangerous activity on ports – it is when most incidents and injuries happen.

Port Industry Association Chair, Pat Kirk, said development of the ACOP has been strongly supported by the port sector. It has involved a large amount of work and effort from the sector, there is collective buy-in of the sector to it, and it will make a significant impact on the health and safety on ports.

Demonstrating the level of buy-in, and collaborative approach taken, the ACOP took only 15 months to develop and reach agreement on. In addition, many businesses on ports are already considering how to implement and integrate it into their health and safety systems and processes, and some are already implementing it.

We would like to thank all the industry and WorkSafe subject matter experts who gave their time to the development of the ACOP.

Alongside the ACOP, the Leadership Group are working on further guidance, case studies, and educative tools and training to support implementation of the ACOP.

In 2022 the Port Health and Safety Leadership Group developed the Port Sector Insights Picture and Action Plan so that we could target actions based on evidence.

The plan pulls together information from fatalities, injuries, incidents, near-misses, regulatory notifications, investigations and assessments, worker surveys, and worker interviews and workshops to build a picture of what drives serious harm on ports – who it is happening to, and why. It lays out six key interventions where changes can have a real impact:

• Putting in place an ACOP for loading and unloading cargo to implement more consistent regulatory standards for some of the highest risk activities on ports. (ACOP approved.)
• Implementing the Fatigue Risk Management System: Good Practice Guidelines to reduce the risks associated with worker fatigue. (All businesses on ports have started implementing a fatigue risk management system.)
• Recommending the Government extend Maritime NZ’s designation to cover the whole port. (Government has amended HSWA. Maritime NZ’s extended designation takes effect July 1.)
• Action to improve training and workforce issues. (Initial micro credentials have been referred to NZQA for review and approval, and a roles and skills matrix is being developed, which will identify additional training and build career pathways.)
• Work to improve incident reporting, notifications, insights and learning across the Ports, so the sector can get better real time understanding of harm and take necessary action. (Work is underway.)
• Actions to ensure there are easier ways of sharing good practice that the sector is doing here, or overseas, to encourage continuous improvement on Ports. (Work is underway.)

“We owe it to those working on ports every day, the people who have died, their families, and those who have been injured, to improve safety on ports.”

Jon Moore Chief Executive, North Port

Roger Gray Chief Executive, Port of Auckland

Gavin Hudson Chief Executive, C3 Limited

Aubrey Wilkinson National President Rail and Maritime Transport Union

Carl Findlay National Secretary, Maritime Union of New Zealand

Pat Kirk Chair, Port Industry Association

Paul Cameron Chief Executive, ISO Limited

Kirstie Hewlett Leadership Group Chair and Director of Maritime NZ.