Truck records were trashed, SPSA says

NORFOLK

Maintenance records that might have shed light on who disabled a safety device in a truck in which a sanitation worker was killed have been destroyed, an official from the region's waste management authority said Wednesday.

City officials said last week they discovered two city trucks had been rewired to disengage a safety mechanism designed to shut down the hydraulic system when the door to a truck's hopper opens.

Jerry Holton, 51 and a Navy veteran, died in February after he tried to remove debris that had clogged his truck's compaction system. The system engaged and killed him. Holton had worked in the city's sanitation department for 21 years.

The two trucks were among nine the city purchased from the Southeastern Public Service Authority in June 2010. SPSA Executive Director Rowland "Bucky" Taylor wrote Wednesday in an email that maintenance records for the trucks were thrown away after the city purchased them.

Norfolk officials have contended that they asked for maintenance records but never received them. Taylor disputed that, saying the buyers were invited to examine the records before the trucks were purchased and he believes they visited SPSA's Chesapeake headquarters to do just that.

"Staff believes someone came, but do not have record that they did or did not," Taylor wrote.

Since then, he wrote, "no request has been made for them that anyone can remember. Once the trucks were sold, the old work orders were no longer needed by SPSA and they were disposed of."

"We had our person go back (yesterday) into the records storage area, and she was unable to find any other records pertaining to these trucks," he wrote. "She periodically goes through old files and disposes of those no longer needed."

Officials from both SPSA and the city have denied that they or anyone they hired rewired the trucks to bypass their safety systems.

An investigation by the state into Holton's Feb. 3 death concluded this week. Jennifer Wester, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, would not comment on their findings, including whether investigators discovered who rewired the trucks.

Jane Daffron, a legal assistant with the state agency, said even if the investigation is over, it is likely officials still are working on the case. It will be several weeks before further information is released, she said.

In July, the agency flagged Norfolk for 19 safety violations said to be potentially life-threatening. Eight were related to Holton's death.

Norfolk's safety officer, Craig Watkins, said the state accepted the city's responses to the citations. No fines were given and no one will face criminal charges as a result of the investigation, Watkins said.

Norfolk has changed some of its policies. Drivers are not allowed to get into the back of their trucks for any reason, even to attempt to fix minor problems, unless a trained maintenance person is there.

At the time of Holton's death, drivers were supposed to turn off their trucks, take the keys out of the ignition, and put them into their pockets before entering the back of a truck. Holton's vehicle was still running when rescue personnel responded. Had the keys been removed, the truck would not have engaged, public works director John Keifer said.

"We were told that our policy was in line" at the time of Holton's death with all federal and state policies, City Manager Marcus Jones said.

The decision to buy the trucks was made after SPSA announced that it would no longer pick up recycled materials.

Every other city in South Hampton Roads hired private companies to haul away recycled materials. Norfolk decided to take on the work itself and spent $300,000 on the SPSA trucks. The city spent more than $200,000 in maintenance on the trucks in their first year.

City Councilman Barclay C. Winn criticized the decision at the time, saying the private sector could pick up the recycled materials more efficiently. Jones recently asked for companies to bid on collecting Norfolk's recycled materials.

Watkins said the city recently asked SPSA for complete maintenance records and received only accounting records.

"They had a six-year history before we got the trucks," he said. "We have a detailed seven-month history. We want to find out what happened in those preceding six years."

City officials visited SPSA headquarters twice before the trucks were purchased, Norfolk spokeswoman Lori Crouch said. She has been unable to determine whether city staffers were provided access to maintenance records, she said.

Taylor said Norfolk was given time to review and copy maintenance records. SPSA sent the city basic information about the trucks before a Dec. 8, 2009, meeting, he said. He emailed a copy of the material to The Virginian-Pilot. SPSA officials also offered to go over hard copies of the maintenance logs, he said.

Taylor provided an email exchange that took place in early December 2009 between SPSA's Norman Strickland and Richard Cortimilia, then fleet coordinator for the city's public works department.

Cortimilia wrote: "I trust that the maintenance information is very comprehensive and difficult to send. If you were able to, please send it and if not I may request another visit to review maintenance records."

Strickland replied: "We keep hard files on that info and will require sitting down and looking through the history folders on the nine units. This isn't a problem and we can do that anytime you would like."

Since the accident, many of the managers who worked in Norfolk's waste management department in 2009 and 2010 no longer work for the city.

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