Former Port of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson has taken the stand in his own defence at an unprecedented trial into a workplace death, speaking of his love for the port, his honour to have led the organisation and his unwavering commitment to keeping people safe.

Gibson, 69, is on trial at Auckland District Court over the 2020 port death of 31-year-old stevedore and father-of-seven Pala’amo Kalati.

He faces two charges laid by Maritime NZ. It is the first time a New Zealand chief executive has been charged over a workplace fatality.

Gibson was today the first defence witness called to the stand. After being sworn in, he told the court he had never been convicted of a crime or charged with any offence previously.

The prosecution has been brought under tough new health and safety laws introduced following the Pike River mine disaster aimed at holding senior company officers to account for exposing workers to risk of serious injury or death.

Maritime NZ argues Gibson failed to use his “influence, power and resource” as a corporate officer to ensure frontline workers were kept safe before Kalati was crushed by a container while unloading a ship at the Fergusson Container Terminal.

However, Gibson told the court he had been instrumental in improving the port’s health and safety culture and implementing systems designed to “keep people healthy and safe”.

Under his decade-long tenure, health and safety was given “presence and visibility at the company. It was the first item on the agenda at board meetings, with health and safety updates included in both CEO and board reports.

He said he developed a “port fit” programme to keep staff and their families fit and healthy, and banned stevedores from working double shifts due to health and safety risks around fatigue.

He was also instrumental in promoting trainers into newly established roles of operational performance coaches, who were responsible for high-level training of workers in critical frontline roles.

“I love the port, I still do,” he told the court. “The people are magic. The families there, there’s generations. It was an honour and privilege and I put everything into being the CEO at the time.”

Former Ports of Auckland CEO, Tony Gibson (right) is on trial over the death of stevedore Pala’amo Kalati (inset) who was struck by a falling container on August 30, 2020.

Gibson also talked about his senior management team and their various channels of responsibility, including for health and safety.

Asked for his views on delegation, he replied: “I think any organisation to be successful has to have delegation.

“Ultimately as CEO you’ve got to trust your officers. If you don’t get to the point where you trust them, something has to change.”

Gibson’s lawyer John Billington KC opened the defence case by saying Gibson didn’t have to give evidence before the court.

“He wants to give evidence. He would like your honour to understand that he was an authentic leader in health and safety and he hopes that your honour will judge him as such. He was the same person at work as he was at home.”

Billington said port workers who had already given evidence had spoken of Gibson as being “diligent”, “conscientious” and a “good person”.

He said this case must be assessed according to the unique context of Gibson’s role in a large and complex company operating during an unprecedented global pandemic.

Pala'amo Kalati (right) with wife Dro and six of their seven children: Jairus, Mischa, Azra, Braxton, Sarai and Iman.

Billington told the court the prosecution had effectively treated Gibson as if he was the “principal health and safety manager with expertise, and not the CEO”.

It would be argued that Maritime NZ had therefore “blurred the lines” between the obligations of the legally responsible PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) and those of his client, “as just one of the officers of POAL”.

“Mr Gibson has never sought to avoid his responsibilities to the port. He does not do so now.”

The trial continues before Judge Steve Bonnar.

Lane Nichols is a senior journalist and deputy head of news based in Auckland. Before joining the Herald in 2012, he spent a decade at Wellington’s Dominion Post and Nelson Mail.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.