Safety device disabled in truck that crushed worker

NORFOLK

Two waste management trucks, including one in which a Norfolk sanitation driver was killed earlier this year, were rewired to bypass a critical safety system that might have saved the driver's life, city officials said Friday.

No one who works for the city or who was hired by the city rewired the trucks, said Craig Watkins, the city's safety officer. The vehicles were purchased from the Southeastern Public Service Authority in June 2010.

Norfolk discovered the rewiring problems shortly after Jerry Holton's death, said Watkins and John Keifer, Norfolk's director of public works. But city leaders chose not to speak about their discovery until asked about it on Friday.

"We suspect that it happened before we got the trucks," Keifer said.

Rowland "Bucky" Taylor, executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority, said no one within SPSA rewired the trucks, either. Taylor emailed a statement from Patrick Lee, SPSA's director of fleet maintenance, who said: "Absolutely not. We have never and never will disable any safety device."

The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry is investigating the accident, in which Holton, a Navy veteran and 21-year sanitation truck driver, was killed on Feb. 3 as he was collecting recycled trash in the Wards Corner area.

City officials have said that Holton, 51, climbed into the back of a truck to clear debris from a blade that compacted trash. The safety that was supposed to shut down the hydraulic system as soon as the door into the hopper opened malfunctioned. City officials said they believe it did not work because the truck had been rewired.

At some point, the truck's compaction system turned on and crushed Holton to death.

City officials were cited by a state agency in July for 19 serious violations from inspections resulting from that accident, including eight directly related to Holton's death.

Norfolk was not cited for rewiring the trucks to bypass the safety systems. Jennifer Wester, director of cooperative programs for the Department of Industry and Labor, declined to comment when asked about the trucks' safety systems Friday.

Keifer and Watkins said they do not know why the city had not discovered the truck's rewiring problems before.

"There's not a good answer for that," Watkins acknowledged. "I don't know why that was missed."

The city hires private firms to handle maintenance for the trash compaction areas of trucks, he said. After the accident, one of those companies discovered that the wiring on Holton's truck had been altered, he said.

"These trucks were the first vehicles that the city purchased that were used" in more than a decade, Watkins said. A review of maintenance workers showed city mechanical workers had inspected the trucks to the best of their ability, he said. "This was a difficult, complex problem to find," he said.

The city has also been unable to obtain maintenance records on the trucks from SPSA, Watkins said. Before the accident, the city requested them and received two spreadsheets that did not include any maintenance information. City leaders asked again after the accident, and once again, received the same two sheets.

"Our attorneys have asked for the records and have not received them," Watkins said.

The purchase of the nine SPSA trucks for $300,000 was controversial. Most were 6 or 7 years old, and the useful life of a truck is considered to be about 6 years.

Councilman Barclay C. Winn protested at the time of the purchase, calling the trucks "junk." He declined to comment on Friday.

Norfolk leaders said they needed the trucks to begin collecting recycled materials. Previously, SPSA collected recycled materials throughout the region, but the arrangement was ending. Every city in South Hampton Roads chose to contract their recycling out to the private sector except for Norfolk.

According to records obtained by The Virginian-Pilot in July, the city also spent more than $200,000 to repair the trucks in the first 12 months they operated. One of the trucks was inoperable when purchased and had to be towed to Norfolk.

Marcus Jones, who took over as city manager days before Holton died, recently asked for bids from private companies to begin collecting recycled materials. Jones responded to a request for an interview Friday by having Watkins and spokeswoman Lori Crouch answer questions on his behalf.

Jessica Holton Hendricks, one of Holton's daughters, said her family did not know the trucks had been rewired. The city also had also not informed the family about the state citations.

"It's irresponsible for the city not to know what's going on with the safety system in these trucks," she said. "They should have checked."

Since the incident, the city has revamped its training procedures, Keifer said. However, he said, Holton erred in not turning off the truck before entering the back. Police said they found the truck running when they responded to a 911 call reporting Holton's accident.

Holton's death weighs daily on city workers, Keifer said.

"I knew Jerry Holton and knew him as a model employee," Keifer said. "This was a terrible tragedy and is something we will never get over."

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com