Because of her administrative skills, a grieving Woollett was put in charge of the church’s response to Verry’s 2022 death at Church Unlimited in Glendene, West Auckland.
She responded to criticism of the church’s health and safety practices, before and after the fatal accident, a coroner’s inquest heard today.
“Hindsight is wonderful,” she said. “We could have done a lot better in managing the aftermath and investigation.
“But we were … grieving we were in shock … I fully admit there has been some areas we did not see.”
The pastor explains
Yesterday afternoon, Woollett began her evidence at the inquest by saying she was appointed the church’s response co-ordinator to a WorkSafe NZ investigation into Verry’s workplace death.
Yesterday, the inquest also heard an emotional statement from Verry’s husband Tim Verry, who questioned why the West Auckland church had not identified the 230kg door as a hazard.
He claimed the church still did not have adequate health and safety protocols in place four and a half years later after his wife’s death.
Continuing her evidence today, Woollett said there were regular maintenance and safety checks of the church’s auditoriums and grounds before Verry’s death.
She said at no time before the accident did she or other church staff identify the door as a hazard.
“It’s not that we weren’t assessing risks, we just didn’t see this one in that way.”
Coroner Janet Anderson says the inquest into Helen Verry’s death is to find out why the roller door fell on her, whether the church would have been aware of its danger and to prevent similar deaths. Photo / Michael Craig
They were also relying on people coming to them and telling them if something wasn’t right, she said, and no one had done that in relation to the door.
In response to criticism of the lack of change after the accident, she said the church now had more robust health and safety induction systems.
But it was a large and growing organisation with hundreds of transient volunteers, and it was hard to get a handle on, she said.
The church was constantly looking to improve.
‘Why, why, why?’
Woollett was questioned at the hearing by James Cairney, the lawyer for roller door manufacturer and installer SDL.
After Verry’s death, SDL, formally known as Scotty Doors, was prosecuted by WorkSafe NZ in 2024 for its unsafe installation of the roller door and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in fines and reparation.
Cairney asked whether Woollett was able to be critical of the church in her investigation of the 2022 accident.
She said she believed the church had an open mind and after the tragedy, all of the staff were asking “why, why, why?” and questioning themselves.
“From day one, people were already saying, ‘did I do it?’,” she said.
That was what guided her in the investigation.
“Rightly or wrongly, I wanted to protect my people [from] the pain.”
When Cairney further questioned the quality of her investigation or response, Woollett said she and all the staff were more suited to ministerial tasks and the legal and investigative elements were out of their league.
“At what point is health and safety becoming draconian and inoperable? … We had a bleeding church; we had a bleeding staff. Where’s the ministerial side?” she asked.
They were not perfect and did some things wrong, but they also did some things right, Woollett said.
The church’s lawyer, Eleanor Harrison, asked Woollett about the criticisms she had heard.
“Do you have any background in policing?” Harrison asked.
“No,” Woollett responded.
“Any training in criminal investigation?” Harrison continued.
“No,” she responded.
“Right,” the lawyer concluded.
Two men comfort each other at the Church Unlimited after Helen Verry was killed. Photo / Hayden Woodward
‘Overhead mouse traps’
The inquest then heard from Warren Blackwood, the project manager for Skyward Construction, which contracted Scotty Doors to install the door in 2009.
He continues to work in industrial construction and contracts hundreds of roller doors to be installed each year.
Blackwood was asked whether doors of this type needed maintenance from clients, such as the church.
He said not really, apart from dusting for aesthetic reasons.
When asked if his company would ever tend to the doors, he said they “never touch them” and he leaves that job to the contractors.
“They’re overhead mouse traps.”
The last to use the door
Yesterday, the inquest heard from Church Unlimited musical director Adrian Robertson, who believed he was the last person to use the roller door before Verry’s death.
Every year, Robertson sets up the Christmas decorations for the church with the help of volunteers.
Before Christmas 2021, Robertson and his helpers set up a special drive-thru Christmas window to be viewed safely during Auckland’s Covid-19 restrictions.
He and his team attached drapes and fairy lights to the raised roller door and three weeks before Verry died, they came in to pull them down.
He said the door functioned normally and he didn’t notice anything different about it.
The inquest continues.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.