Zayne was working at a trendy Coco Republic warehouse… but a horrific freak accident means he will never be the same again

A young worker who lost his lower leg in a gruesome warehouse crash has endured a horrifying ordeal, his mother says, as the full extent of his injuries are revealed. 

Zayne Krupowicz was working at Coco Republic’s warehouse in Pemulwuy, in Sydney’s west, when he collided with another pallet rider in February 2022. 

The NSW District Court heard the electric pallet rider Mr Krupowicz was operating had crashed into a pallet rider operated by his colleague.

As a result of the collision, Mr Krupowicz suffered a compound fracture to his right foot, shockingly this later required his right leg to be amputated below the knee.

The Daily Mail is not suggesting Coco Republic is at fault. 

Mr Krupowicz’s mother, Julie Ann, described her son’s ordeal as ‘sheer agony’.

‘My kind, caring, big-hearted son Zayne… had a terrible accident that has led to him broken and struggling to understand why this has happened to him,’ she posted in a video seen by Daily Mail.

‘The surgeons couldn’t make a decision. Two-and-a-half weeks of sheer agony, not knowing what would happen.’

Ms Krupowicz said it had been a ‘difficult case’ as the main bone in Zayne’s foot had rotated and snapped, and the main artery was damaged, with limited blood supply. 

He underwent six operations to try to repair his foot but these proved unsuccessful, which required doctors to amputate below the knee.

‘My boy was absolutely broken. Each day that passed he suffered tremendous amounts of pain – not only physical, [but] emotional pain that was overwhelming,’ Ms Krupowicz said.

‘My son’s dreams and plans ripped away. Hearing him say he couldn’t fight anymore, that he just wanted to die… and so they took his leg, leaving me with a shadow of my son.

‘Everyday I pray that he will find the strength to make some kind of peace with his loss.’

The court heard the warehouse stored furniture and homewares, some weighing as much as 350kg, on full height racks in the warehouse that were accessed with the use of high-reach forklifts.

Most of these items were transported around the warehouse on pallets with the use of forklifts, pallet riders and pallet jacks.

The court heard Mr Krupowicz, who was an employee of Momentum Consulting Group Pty Ltd, was directed to work for Saveba Pty Ltd trading as Coco Republic in September 2021.

He was one of 28 workers directed to work there by the labour hire business between May 2021 and February 2022. 

In a ruling handed down by Judge Andrew Scotting last week, Momentum Consulting was ordered to pay $125,000 after being found guilty of failing to ensure the health and safety of Mr Krupowicz.

Judge Scotting said the risk the labour hire workers faced ‘included a risk of death’. 

He also found a senior employee of Momentum Consulting had conducted an ‘inadequate’ work health and safety site inspection of the warehouse in May 2021.

‘[She] failed to identify through her observations or through her enquiries of Saveba, the use of pallet riders at the warehouse and consequently the risks to the workers posed by their use,’ Judge Scotting said.

‘[She] failed to obtain a written position description from Saveba for the role of ‘furniture assembler’ and did not gain an adequate understanding of the work that would be performed by the labour hire workers at the warehouse.’

Judge Scotting noted Momentum Consulting had failed to verify that the labour hire workers were receiving appropriate training from Saveba, including a basic site induction. 

It’s understood Momentum Consulting later offered Mr Krupowicz training for a new office-based position, however he declined.

The court heard the labour hire business has now retrained all of its employees in relation to safety practices.

Saveba Pty Ltd was fined $390,000 in a separate court case held last year.