An Oamaru man killed in a crash near Dunback last year had written to his employer after an earlier accident expressing concern about working excessively long hours, the Oamaru Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Coroner David Crerar found Allan George Caldwell (54), surveyor, died when the utility vehicle he was driving left the road and crashed on September 18, 2009, causing severe injuries.
After a long day of surveying, it appeared Mr Caldwell was tired and fell asleep, Mr Crerar said.
Mr Caldwell had driven to the Omakau area on September 16 to conduct surveying work on a farm owned by his employer.
He sent a text message to his wife about 8am on September 17, saying he would either be home that night or the following night.
He worked through the day on September 17 and it later appeared that further attention was required and he was delayed leaving the property.
He was last seen by sharemilker Rhys Hamilton completing surveying work about 10pm.
Oamaru police were advised by police communications about 2.37am on September 18 of a vehicle crash on the Palmerston-Dunback road.
A passing motorist reported a vehicle had rolled.
When Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, arrived at the scene, he found a Toyota Hi-Lux double-cab utility upside down and extensively damaged.
Further east of the Toyota was a tandem-axle trailer with a quad bike still attached to it.
A print-out from a GPS device in the utility appeared to show the vehicle had stopped about 10 times, for short periods, on the journey.
The GPS read-out showed Mr Caldwell had not been driving in a steady manner for about 30 minutes before the crash, Mr Crerar said.
There was no evidence of braking, the road was clean and dry and the vehicle was well maintained.
Mr Caldwell's sister, Pam Ward, read the court a letter he had written to his employer, Plateau Works, in June that year, after he had an accident at Ngapara after hitting black ice.
In the letter, Mr Caldwell said he felt the way his work was scheduled, he was always expected to achieve far more than was possible in the time allocated, and it was having an unnecessary and detrimental effect on his health and causing stress.
He was often working excessively long hours to try to get through the work, as he knew there were more duties waiting.
"I can't see myself going on like this forever," he wrote.
That Ngapara accident should "probably be a wake-up call for all concerned", he said.
Mrs Ward said she was not reading the letter to apportion blame to the company.
She felt the court needed to be aware of the concerns her brother had had before the accident that killed him.
While he accepted Mrs Ward's submission, Mr Crerar said if there were employment issues, those must be dealt with in another jurisdiction.
He could not tie long hours of work to any obligation placed by his employer on Mr Caldwell.
He recommended a copy of his findings be forwarded to the Department of Labour for further investigation for driving while over-tired in an employment situation.
He also recommended a copy be sent to the New Zealand Transport Agency, saying it was a further example of the dangers that arose when a driver fell asleep while driving when over-tired.
