Union drops case over death of tired worker

The union which took a private prosecution after an exhausted worker who had smoked cannabis died in a road crash on the way home has withdrawn its action.

Kenneth Edward Fisher, 43, of Maungaturoto, died when his car hit a bridge on State Highway 12 south of Whangarei in June 2004.

He had been working for 21 of the 28 hours before his death and a coroner said he probably fell asleep at the wheel.

He worked 7 hours on the Wednesday and 7 hours on the Thursday before the accident on the Friday morning. His Thursday shift finished at 2.45pm and he began another shift at 10pm on the same day, finishing 13 hours later at 11am on the Friday.

He died 45 minutes later on his way home.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union began the private prosecution against Times Colour Print in Warkworth, saying fatigue could not be under-estimated as a cause of the crash.

But the union said yesterday that both parties agreed legislation had made it clear that fatigue was an issue which must be addressed in the workplace.

National secretary Andrew Little said the union appealed to companies to be aware how hazardous working long hours could be to workers.

Coroner Max Atkins said Mr Fisher's blood had a level of three micrograms per litre of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active chemical in cannabis.

There was not enough evidence to find his driving was impaired by the drug and the only identifiable cause of the accident was his extreme tiredness after working long hours.

- NZPA