A judge-alone trial before Judge Warren Cathcart began in court yesterday and is expected to take at least the scheduled eight days..
WorkSafe New Zealand prosecutors Stephanie Bishop and DeAnne Brabant allege Hawke Equipment Limited and James Walter Beau Thompson failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of Mr Hickey and that no harm would come to him.
The charges are alternatively laid to cover whether Mr Hickey was working as an employee or a contractor at the time.
The prosecution claims an inspection made of the vehicle after the accident showed the brake adjustment levels and the general maintenance of the truck were below a reasonable standard.
It is also submitted that any induction or training Mr Hickey might have received was inadequate and below industry standards.
Another driver who spoke to Mr Hickey just before he left Puketoro Station would give evidence that Mr Hickey lacked confidence in the truck and that he was not competent to be navigating it through the difficult terrain.
No causative linkMr Thompson was Mr Hickey’s direct employer but any omissions by him were also attributable to Hawke Equipment, the prosecution says.
There did not have to be a causative link between the failure to take practicable steps and the harm that came to Mr Hickey for the charges to be proved.
But in signalling the defence position, counsel Paul White for the defendants said where the prosecution had particularised matters, causation was directly relevant in order for the charges to be proved.
The case was around the specific dealings with Mr Hickey, not an inquiry into the defendants’ health and safety practices generally. The prosecution needed to prove the failures it alleged were actually failures and were relevant to and, from the defence point of view, were a causative link with Mr Hickey’s death.
The prosecution also had to show Mr Hickey was actually engaged to do work in a particular capacity for the defendants on the day of his death.
Mr White said the trial would show the investigation into the accident had been “nothing short of a shambles”.
“Assumptions were made, relevant questions were not asked, and when questions were asked they were asked in the wrong way.
“Had the right questions been asked without preconceived ideas present, these charges would have never been laid,” he said.
Four industry practice witnessesThe first of four industry practice witnesses to give defence evidence yesterday was Mike Treloar, managing director of Pacific Haulage Limited, this region’s largest log truck operator with 33 vehicles in its fleet.
Mr Treloar, who previously employed Mr Hickey, said he was a competent driver who did very little wrong in the 12 months he worked for the company.
Mr Hickey drove forestry roads mainly in Hikurangi and the Whareratas but would not have driven Ihungia Road.
He spoke about the East Coast region being among the country’s most challenging for truck driving and harsh on vehicles, the wear and tear on which needed to be constantly monitored. Ihungia Road was known to be particularly challenging.
Mr Treloar said the company was prompted to start a robust “paper trail” around health and safety and training processes in 1989, after the death of one of its drivers who acted against instructions and his own better judgement by going under a truck to adjust brakes.
He was run over.
Proceeding
