By LOUISA CLEAVE
Mechanics working on a truck did not have the training to detect an unsafe driveshaft that 11 days later shattered and sent a part flying through the windscreen of an oncoming car.
Eddie Tavinor, 32, a father-of-three, was killed instantly in the accident on the Auckland Southern Motorway on November 20, 2000.
A portion of the front universal joint from the truck's driveshaft decapitated the Pukekohe plasterer as it smashed through the windscreen and through the cabin of his Mazda ute.
Three expert witnesses at last December's inquest into Mr Tavinor's death agreed the driveshaft separated because of bearing failure, according to a coroner's finding released yesterday.
They found there was wear and tear on a bearing "well in excess" of the manufacturer's limits and it should have been detectable during work on the vehicle at Roadlife Services on November 9, 2000.
The mechanics who worked on the truck were not properly trained and kept up-to-date with the parts they were working on, and had not read a manual on the driveshaft's maintenance, the report found.
Coroner Murray Jamieson said the workshop failure was less important than the "substantial and remediable defects" in the road haulage industry.
He said the circumstances surrounding Mr Tavinor's death were not confined to a single brand of driveshaft, workshop or company.
"One of the expert witnesses pointed out that there was insufficient awareness in the repair industry of the need to have work done by people who are trained in respect of that particular piece of machinery."
Dr Jamieson said the foreman mechanic had told the court that, in general, there was continual pressure on truck maintenance staff to complete their work and get trucks back out on the road.
However, the mechanic who worked on the truck involved in Mr Tavinor's death said there had been sufficient time to do the job.
Mitsubishi Motors said yesterday that it had implemented a specialised training programme covering servicing and maintenance of driveshafts. It had checked trucks immediately after the accident and now installed a hoop around the driveshafts of all new trucks as an extra safety measure, said managing director John Leighton.
Dr Jamieson also recommended the Land Transport Safety Authority distribute his finding to the haulage industry and said he would send a copy to the Ministry of Transport.
Mechanics' training insufficient, coroner finds
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