Engineer Fined Over A Massive Fire At Napier Port

A Napier engineer whose firm began a fire about two years back at Napier Port will need to pay thousands of dollars as fines.

A Singapore-registered vessel dubbed Kota Bahagia reportedly burst into flames on 1 December back in 2020.

The sole director of a Napier manufacturing major was reportedly sentenced this week at the Napier District Court.

When the fire suddenly broke out, the employees were cutting gas on the vessel.

The fire was a result of hot metal particles reportedly expelled by gas cutting, dropping into the lower hold, and igniting the material lying below the decks where the employees were involved in gas cutting.

The operations manager of Maritime NZ’s regulatory mentioned that the firm was unsuccessful in making sure that the firm had available for use, and used, suitable resources and processes to reduce the risk related to fire. As a director of the company, the individual should have ensured that his employees worked in a manner that kept themselves and those in the vicinity of the work safe. He also had to ensure that the firm acquired and kept up to date with the guidance and standards essential for maintaining safety procedures associated with hot works.

When initiating the gas cutting, Maritime NZ said that the firm should have made sure that there were resources and established processes to complete a thorough safety check around the site of the hot works, make sure an end-to-end site examination was undertaken and a risk assessment was undertaken, make sure that a firewatcher was also in place on-board close to the appropriate areas of the vessel and also made sure fire blankets were used effectively and readily available.

The firm in question was asked to pay a fine of about $48,000, costs of $2500, and $4000 in emotional inconvenience reparations to the victim.

References: RNZ, Stuff

Engineer Fined Over A Massive Fire At Napier Port appeared first on Marine Insight – The Maritime Industry Guide

Source: Maritime Shipping News