TEEN FELT JOB WAS UNSAFE

A Christchurch teenager made a prophetic warning about safety in the
weeks before he was crushed to death while working for a company with
an ingrained drug-abuse culture and ineffective management.

James Kirkpatrick, 18, had told his parents about his concerns of
working for Onyx, saying he did not feel safe and the garbage
collection company had "slack management".

Within weeks, he was dead after being run over by the truck on which
he had been working.

Christchurch Coroner Richard McElrea yesterday released a report
rebuking the company for having tolerated widespread drug use at work,
for poor management of the Christchurch operation, and for allowing
"inherently unsafe" workplace practices.

The coroner said the health and safety authorities had suspected for
more than a year before Kirkpatrick's death in April 2005 that there
was a drug abuse culture at the company but had not addressed it.

Onyx has since been sold to an Australian company, Waste Management
(New Zealand) Ltd, which has compulsory pre-employment and
post-incident drug and alcohol tests.

Kirkpatrick's parents, Phil and Susan Kirkpatrick of Courtenay,
welcomed the coroner's recommendations but feared they did not go far
enough or have teeth.

"The Department of Labour already knew what was going on (at Onyx).
Why did they let someone die?" Susan Kirkpatrick said.

"When he (James) started in March, he said 'It's dangerous, they have
slack management'."

The inquest was told Kirkpatrick had worked for Onyx for only two
months.

Shortly before 8am on April 22, 2005, he apparently attempted to jump
onto the step of the truck as it accelerated away near the junction of
Idris and Wairakei Roads. He slipped and fell under the wheels,
suffering catastrophic injuries.

The post-mortem showed he had smoked cannabis that morning and might
still have been under its influence.

The driver, James Manson, said he had seen Kirkpatrick standing by the
road "in a dazed state" just before the incident.

The other runner, Aimalaia Pua'auase, said the step had been slippery
that morning and the coroner found Kirkpatrick's Onyx-supplied
footwear was so worn it offered only moderate protection against slipping.

Manson admitted smoking cannabis at work on occasion, adding "Quite a
lot of people I knew smoked it (at work)".

The inquest was told Pua'auase was put on Manson's truck three weeks
before the accident so he could report ongoing drug use.

He said Manson and Kirkpatrick had "smoked dope" in the truck on the
way to begin their run.

The coroner described Pua'auase's evidence as truthful, principled,
and courageous, but said he could not rule out that he might have seen
a tobacco cigarette.

However, he said it was clear that the drug culture at Onyx had been
generally tolerated by Onyx Christchurch management for much of 2004
and the early part of 2005 and was only being addressed at the time of
the fatality.

Grant Hopewell, who took over as branch manager after the fatality,
said the company was aware of staff using drugs at work and estimated
that half the employees were regular drug users, although not
necessarily at work.

The week before, police had arrested three staff for smoking cannabis
in the recycling truck, prompting them to be sacked.

"I find that Onyx management had not taken a stand concerning the drug
culture at the workplace until the three staff members were made an
example of," McElrea said.

An audit by Land Transport New Zealand three months after the fatality
showed the drug culture had "all but disappeared", with 42 of the 67
staff being dismissed in the interim.

The Department of Labour, which oversees health and safety
enforcement, said it was aware of innuendo of a drug culture at Onyx
the year before Kirkpatrick died, with eight incidents with the
company in just over three years.

The police admitted to the coroner that their investigation was
deficient, with no attempt to test Manson for alcohol or drug use
despite having the power to do so. Nor was there any investigation
into workplace drug use at Onyx that day.

Other factors identified by the coroner were the inconsistently
enforced rules about not jumping on moving trucks.

The coroner called on the police and the Department of Labour to
consider the lack of a wider investigation under workplace safety
rules, given the known suspicions that drugs were suspected to be a
factor in the fatality.

Other recommendations included a zero tolerance of drug use, ensuring
drivers are aware of the location of their runners at all times,
possible use of radios or pre-arranged signals to keep them in touch
with each other, and ensuring safety clothing and footwear was up to
standard.