‘Challenging environment’ at port on day of death
Part of the Lyttelton Port Company’s wharf area presented “an extremely challenging work environment” on the day a contractor was crushed and killed, a Christchurch judge has said.
Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar said the area in which William Frost was killed on November 27, 2013, was badly congested.
There were operational deficiencies at the port related to storage capacity and traffic volumes. They arose from an increase in bulk export volumes and on-going disruptions from the earthquakes, he said.
“That created an extremely challenging work environment,” Judge Kellar said at the sentencing of driver John Robert Jebson, aged 54, who had admitted a charge of careless driving causing the death of Mr Frost, 58.
Mr Frost was standing beside a forklift at the corner of Wharf No 2 at the port when the accident happened. Jebson was driving an articulated truck towing a semi-trailer classified as over-dimension, with bolsters used to securely carry logs.
He completed one load and then stopped and spoke to Mr Frost to get instructions about the next load, and then moved forward while Mr Frost began talking on his cellphone.
Jebson drove off making a sharp left-hand turn, but failed to allow enough clearance and crushed Mr Frost between the bolster on the side of the truck and the forklift. Jebson was stopped by another port worker and tried to administer CPR until the ambulance staff arrived, but Mr Frost died at the scene.
“It was a challenging environment to turn trailers of that size,” said the judge, noting that Jebson had had no additional driver training and no safety instructions had been given.
Mr Frost’s widow, Vicky Frost, told the court of her “aching loneliness” after losing her husband the day before their 32nd wedding anniversary. He had built up their business Drivertek International Ltd to where it was beginning to bear results after years of hard work and frustrations.
“I miss him every minute of every day,” she said. “We had so many plans.”
Defence counsel Paul Norcross said Jebson was genuinely remorseful, and he argued for a conviction and discharge. There were no public safety issues that would require disqualification from driving.
Judge Kellar said it was a difficult sentencing which had to concentrate on the degree of carelessness in the driving, rather than the consequences. He offered the court’s sympathies to the Frost family for their loss.
He said the area was heavily congested but that should have come as no surprise to the driver. No blame could be placed on Mr Frost. He was entitled to assume the truck would avoid him.
He sentenced Jebson to 100 hours of community work, disqualified him from driving for six months, and ordered a payment of $1500 to Mr Frost’s family as emotional harm reparations.
Category: News
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