Leo Kupis wants justice after a serious workplace injury has left him unable to work again. Photo / Michael Craig
Leo Kupis wants justice after a serious workplace injury has left him unable to work again. Photo / Michael Craig
A former worker at an Air New Zealand site where a man was crushed by a forklift said there were previous near-misses.
In July 2022, truck driver Leo Kupis was crushed between his truck and a reversing forklift in a zone that was designated “safe” for drivers.
The life-changing injury saw him almost lose a leg and he may never work again. Worksafe never formally investigated the incident and the case was closed within days. Air NZ was issued with two improvement notices and ran its own investigation that found 13 significant changes were needed to make the site safe.
Now, a former worker alleges there were near-misses at the site in the year leading up to the accident, and that Air NZ’s site managers were aware of the dangers.
“In 2021 a forklift driver went over the head of a worker and luckily the man ducked down or he would have lost his head,” the man claims.
“This and other issues were raised with management at the time and nothing changed.”
The man said he saw forklift drivers with headphones on listening to music, and clerical workers with only basic class 1 forklift licences driving on the warehouse floor.
Leopold Kupis's blood on the "truck driver safe zone" on the floor of the Air New Zealand cargo container plant on Manu Tapu Drive, Mangere
Photo / Supplied
Paperwork for the restorative justice process revealed the driver who hit Kupis was a clerical worker with a basic forklift license whose contract allowed him to help on the warehouse floor when needed.
The driver was charged with careless driving causing injury and was ordered to pay $5000 damages to Kupis but was discharged without conviction.
In his sentencing notes, Judge John Bergseng said the workplace the driver worked in was “very much sub-optimal”.
“Had the corrective action that is now taking place been in place at the time it seems very unlikely that Mr Kupis would even have been able to be in that location to be injured,” the judge said.
Air NZ declined to comment further, saying “Air New Zealand takes all its safety obligations very seriously.”
The former worker - who no longer works for the airline - said there has now been another serious incident at another site near the one where Kupis was injured.
This involved an Air NZ driver hitting a Menzies Aviation tug and injuring the Menzies driver.
Both Air NZ and WorkSafe confirmed the incident with the Herald.
“WorkSafe was notified of this incident on January 28 and is currently making enquiries,” A WorkSafe spokesperson said.
Kirsty Wynn is an Auckland-based journalist with more than 20 years experience in New Zealand newsrooms. She has covered everything from crime and social issues to the property market and consumer affairs.
