WARNING: STORY CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES 

It’s hard to miss Leopold Kupis. He’s a big guy with a big voice to match. But two years ago, a man reversing a forklift at an Air New Zealand cargo park failed to see him - trapping Leo against his truck and shattering his leg. WorkSafe never investigated Air New Zealand regarding the life-changing workplace incident and closed the case while Leo was still in hospital. Kirsty Wynn asks why. 

Leo Kupis points at a photo of red blood on a concrete floor between the wheel of a truck and painted markings on the ground designating it a “safe zone”. 

“That’s my blood, that is my truck. Look - ‘safe zone’. How was I hit there? I was in the safe zone. My blood is right there in the safe area. This is crucial.” 

Leopold Kupis's blood in the "truck driver safe zone" on the floor of the Air New Zealand cargo container plant on Manu Tapu Drive, Māngere. 

The blood on the ground is from a crushing leg injury caused when a forklift driver reversed into Leo as he was climbing into the cab of his truck at the Air New Zealand container park on Friday, July 8, 2022. 

He’d pulled into the loading bay to collect containers for his employer Fresh Direct - a supplier to the national airline. 

“I was getting back into the cab when I was suddenly hit,” he says. 

Pinned between the forklift and truck, Leo screamed to the driver, who Leo said “didn’t even know what he’d hit”. 

“Another forklift driver started yelling at him, ‘You hit someone, you hit someone!’” 

Leo remembers the two forklift drivers rushing to his aid - and the sound of hurried apologies as he faded in and out of consciousness. 

Three bolts from the wheel of his own truck had gone through the shin bone of his right leg, shattering it. 

Fire responders, police and an ambulance rushed to the scene around 1.08pm. 

Police charged the forklift operator with careless driving causing injury. He later pleaded guilty and was discharged without conviction. 

Air New Zealand was never charged. 

After assessing the site, Government workplace safety regulator WorkSafe closed the case without investigating Air New Zealand. 

Air New Zealand instead ran its own investigation and sent the findings to WorkSafe on August 12. 

Leo Kupis's leg was shattered and a rod, bolts and extensive skin grafts were required to rebuild it after the incident at Air New Zealand. 

Paperwork supplied to the Herald shows Air New Zealand made 13 improvements to the site on Manu Tapu Drive in Māngere, including new barriers and gates, reducing speed limits from 15km/h to 5km/h, adding pedestrian awareness cameras on forklifts, implementing one-directional traffic and putting in place a traffic management plan. 

For Leo, the 17 months since have been tough: there have been six surgeries to replace shattered bone, a metal rod secured with multiple bolts and screws, and extensive skin grafts to mend missing flesh. 

There have been 80 physio visits, countless bottles of antidepressants, painkillers, sleeping pills - and a lot of tears. 

Air New Zealand’s internal investigation found a lack of safety features on the forklift had contributed to the accident: it had no reversing alarm or automatic shutdown capabilities. And there should have been areas where pedestrians were not allowed. 

It also claimed Leo had left the “safety of his cab and was standing in a dangerous area which was not physically isolated from moving machinery”. 

Daughter Angelika Cardoso points to the photo of her father’s spilled blood alongside the designated safe zone. 

“I believe the location of the truck driver safe zone put drivers into the operational area for forklifts,” she says. 

“This is why there needed to be an independent investigation,” Angelika said. “They did this whole investigation without speaking to my father.” 

Angelika’s opinion is that Air New Zealand failed to provide a safe workplace and did not meet its obligations under the Health and Safety Act. 

She has spent 17 months questioning WorkSafe and Air New Zealand. She has made Official Information Act requests and a complaint to the chief Ombudsman. 

“My father was a fit and healthy man before the accident and loved the outdoors and playing with his grandchildren,” Angelika says. 

“This accident has shattered us.” 

Leopold Kupis was fit and healthy, loved the outdoors and planned to work for at least the next 10 years before he was hit by a forklift at an Air New Zealand site. 

In a statement to the Herald last week, WorkSafe said: “An on-site assessment by WorkSafe, rather than an investigation, was then considered to be the most appropriate intervention.” 

But an email this week from WorkSafe’s interim head of inspectorate Darren Handforth said the on-site assessment found “Air New Zealand lacked an effective system to manage traffic at the site, exposing workers to the risk of collision with plant or vehicle traffic which may cause serious harm, injury or death”. 

“These findings were the reason we issued two improvement notices, which enacted change and were complied with in February 2023.” 

“The improvement notices reflect that Air New Zealand failed in its duty of care under s36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.” 

Angelika told the Herald it was the first time she had heard this. 

“Why, if the site exposed workers to the risk of death, was the driver the only one charged? He was working within their dangerous site on their dangerous machinery - and with no alarm.” 

The severe leg injury has affected Leo's love of playing water sports with his two young grandchildren. 

Angelika believes that the fact Air New Zealand made 13 “corrective actions” to its site shows how inadequate safety was at the site when her father was injured. 

WorkSafe said: “The statutory timeframe to prosecute has now passed, but any party can take a private prosecution under s148 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 if they wish.” 

Angelika said the past two years had broken her family emotionally, and her father needed “closure and not a court case.” 

In a statement to the Herald, Air New Zealand said it was aware of “this very unfortunate incident” and said it had “worked extensively with WorkSafe on the investigation that was undertaken and subsequently closed”. 

“Air New Zealand takes its safety obligations very seriously in all aspects of its business, and it has supported the people involved in the incident throughout the investigation and court process. 

“We have reviewed our safety procedures and made improvements to address the investigation findings. We understand this has been a distressing period for the Kupis family.” 

Leo Kupis in the lounge of the home he says he may have to sell due to his workplace injury. 

In court, the judge who sentenced the driver of the forklift was critical of WorkSafe and Air New Zealand and said the case revealed a “a real injustice”. 

Judge John Bergseng said it was clear there was “a lot wrong in terms of the way that Air New Zealand were operating within that particular workspace”. 

He also questioned the speed at which the WorkSafe file was closed and was concerned that Air New Zealand was not charged. 

The driver, who showed remorse, was discharged without conviction, and on his behalf, Air New Zealand offered Leo $5000 in reparation. 

“I have made clear my views on what I think of the level of that offer, but again, that is something that I simply do not have any ability to influence: the moral decisions made by corporations such as Air New Zealand,” Judge Bergseng said. 

“Had Air New Zealand been charged, I would imagine that Mr Kupis would have been entitled to some form of compensation by way of payment from the court proceedings, albeit limited as well.” 

Had Air New Zealand been charged, the outcome may have been different for the man who brought his family here from Poland 20 years ago for a better life.