It Simply Does Not Pay to be lazy

 

In what is one of the largest fines under the Resource Management Act a company was fined over $100,000 plus costs for allowing dye to enter waterways and harm wildlife.

From Auckland Council:

Heavy fine for one of Auckland’s worst pollution incidents

 

An Auckland company is paying a heavy price for causing Auckland’s most destructive freshwater and marine pollution incident in decades.

Jenners Worldwide Freight, a freight forwarding company, has been fined $103,000, and   ordered to pay $25,000 costs, after being found guilty at the Auckland District Court of spilling over 1000 litres of purple dye into the Oruarangi Stream and Estuary and the Manukau Harbour in South Auckland.

The dye spill in July 2013 killed all eels and fish in the stream, just under half of the mud snails and other species in the estuary. It drastically affected various oysters beds in the area with many oysters being killed. Fishing was banned in the area for months.

In sentencing Jenners, Judge Harland said “It is a fundamental responsibility of any person in any management position to understand and appreciate the workplace risks and the wider risks associated with any activities that are conducted within the business which they manage.”

She added: “The failure by management to even appreciate that there was a relevant rule in a plan that applied to them was also remarkable.”

Auckland Council Resource Consents Compliance Manager, Stefan Naude, said that this prosecution and the level of the fine makes it clear to business owners and managers that they must find out what their obligations are under the Resource Management Act and other relevant regulations, and comply with those obligations.

“In this case, if the container had been stored in a secondary containment device, at minimal cost, as required by the regulations, the discharge of the dye could have been prevented.”

The fine took into account the defendant’s previous good record, guilty plea and remorse.

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Pictures and actual judgement will be posted here later