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Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
On or about 25 March 2019
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$288,750.00

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Ensure that divers were effectively supervised during training diving operations, including by ensuring the correct number of supervisory staff were present;
  2. Ensure that all divers, including instructors, had Certificates of Competence for diving.

Defendant name:
New Zealand Defence Force
 
Industry:
Occupational diving
 
Date of offence:
On or about 25 March 2019
 
Facts in brief:
On 25 March 2019 six divers, all enlisted in the Navy, were taking part in the Able Diver’s Course, training to be Navy divers. At around 9.45pm, during the third dive of the day, one diver was found unresponsive on the sea bed and later passed away.
 
Offence section:
Sections 48(1), (2)(c) and 36(1)(a) Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
 
Date(s) charged:
23/03/2020

Court:
Auckland - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$288,750.00
 
Maximum fine available:
$1.5 million
 
Reparation:
No reparation sought due to a lack of causation between the defendant’s failures and the death of the victim
$2,629 in costs