The New Zealand Defence Force has been fined more than $288,000 for exposing six divers to risk of death or serious injury during a dive that claimed the life of Zachary Yarwood.
The fine was handed down in the Auckland District Court today, after the fatal dive at the Devonport Naval Base in March last year.
The Navy able communications technician had become unresponsive during a training exercise and later died in hospital. He was just 23.
NZDF failed to ensure that divers were effectively supervised during training and did not have the correct number of overseeing staff present, a court has found.
It also failed to ensure that all divers taking part, including instructors, had valid Certificates of Competence for diving, the court heard.
While the Defence Force's failings gave rise to risk, they did not cause Yarwood's death in that they were not a "substantial or operative cause" of him becoming hypoxic, according to court documents.
WorkSafe prosecutor Ben Finn said NZDF had been carrying out an inherently high-risk activity, involving many trainees in offending that occurred multiple times that day.
NZDF had not been following its own specific health and safety guidance, he said.
"It should be held accountable for cutting corners in such a high-risk area as this."
Defence lawyer Samantha Turner said NZDF was very open about its remorse for what had occurred and had pleaded guilty early.
They were not "cavalier in their approach to training" or in any way trying to cut corners, the risks were known in a way that had become normalised.
She was proud when he joined the Navy and, then just 17, the promising young man had pretty much every pathway open to him.
She now struggled with the knowledge that not all those involved in the dive had the right qualifications, she said.
"I have reoccurring dreams of what happened that night, him lying there on the bottom of the seabed."
How devastating that he was left to die while simply training, she said.'
'Dangerous' environment
After the sentencing, the Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral David Proctor, told media the loss of a sailor during training was never acceptable.
"I cannot promise that this will never happen again. The environment in which our divers operate is inherently dangerous, as is the training environment."
But he was committed to make it as safe as practicable.
It was "not good enough" that there had not been enough supervisors on the night of the dive – a practice he said senior leadership did not know was happening.
He described the lack of supervisors as a failure for which he would be forever sorry.