The practice , as you put it , is not screwed up !! It is a standard way of disembarking pax with kit , or in uneven terrain , and will continue to be so for years to come .
I don't see grabbing the skids or a rucksack causing this accident ..an EC 120 could quite easily take off with the weight of a passenger on the skids I would have thought . I also think that any helicopter accident involving the death of two of our nationals would always make headlines ....and quite rightly .