A Sussex port and an Italian shipping company have been fined a total of £185,000 after a worker drowned at Newhaven Docks.
Croydon Crown Court heard that the Sarduba Vera ferry, which was owned by Forship S.p.a, had docked at Newhaven on 12 January 2005. Deck hand Luigi Feola, 38, who originated from Sardinia, had been asked to refill the ship with fresh water.
The usual method for refilling was to attach a hose from a water hydrant on the dock to an interior pipe at the rear of the ship. But. as one of the pipes was damaged, Mr Feola tried to attach the hose to a pipe in the middle of the ship. In order to connect the hose to the hydrant he had to walk down a narrow strip of quay alongside the ship. This area had not been adequately maintained and featured a number of slip and trip hazards, was poorly-lit, and had no edge protection to prevent falls into the sea.
An hour after the ship had docked one of Mr Feola’s colleagues heard a splash in the water and raised the alarm. A search was mounted immediately, but Mr Feola’s body was not found until the next day. A post-mortem revealed he had suffered a head wound before drowning.
Following the incident, an Improvement Notice was issued to Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd, whoch owned the dock, requiring it to remove the slip and trip hazards from the quayside, and install lighting and edge protection in the area where Mr Feola fell. But the company had failed to comply with this notice by April 2005, and HSE inspectors found that conditions at the site had further deteriorated since the incident, and a large hole had appeared at another part of the quay.
Newhaven Port and Properties appeared in court on 21 September and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £85,000 and ordered to pay £34,000 in costs. Forship S.p.a appeared at the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA and was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £43,782.
In mitigation, Newhaven Port and Properties said it had no previous convictions and it has subsequently complied with the Improvement Notice. It has removed the obstructions from the quayside and properly marked out the edge of the quay. A new management team has been put in place, which has focused on improving safety standards at the site.
Forship S.p.a told the court that it had a previously unblemished safety record and had no previous convictions. It has sought specialist advice to review its working practices and has carried out a fresh risk assessment for refilling the ship with water.
HSE inspector, Paul Vinnicombe, said: “It’s absolutely vital that the quaysides at ports are maintained properly, are well-lit, and are fit for purpose.
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