diff --git a/src/pocl/backend.jl b/src/pocl/backend.jl
index e4a5d27e0..0c1296571 100644
--- a/src/pocl/backend.jl
+++ b/src/pocl/backend.jl
@@ -87,12 +87,7 @@ Adapt.adapt_storage(::POCLBackend, x::AbstractArray) = isbits(x) ? x : Adapt.ada
 Adapt.adapt_storage(::KA.ConstAdaptor, a::POCL.CLDeviceArray) = Base.Experimental.Const(a)
 
 
-# Initialized
-
-KA.@kernel function init_kernel(arr, f::F, ::Type{T}) where {F, T}
-    I = KA.@index(Global)
-    @inbounds arr[I] = f(T)
-end
+# Copying
 
 KA.@kernel function copy_kernel(A, @Const(B))
     I = KA.@index(Global)
@@ -100,19 +95,6 @@ KA.@kernel function copy_kernel(A, @Const(B))
 end
 
 
-function KI.zeros(backend::POCLBackend, ::Type{T}, dims::Tuple; kwargs...) where {T}
-    arr = KI.allocate(backend, T, dims; kwargs...)
-    kernel = init_kernel(backend)
-    kernel(arr, zero, T, ndrange = length(arr))
-    return arr
-end
-function KI.ones(backend::POCLBackend, ::Type{T}, dims::Tuple; kwargs...) where {T}
-    arr = KI.allocate(backend, T, dims; kwargs...)
-    kernel = init_kernel(backend)
-    kernel(arr, one, T; ndrange = length(arr))
-    return arr
-end
-
 function KI.copyto!(backend::POCLBackend, A, B)
     if KI.get_backend(A) == KI.get_backend(B) && KI.get_backend(A) isa POCLBackend
         if length(A) != length(B)
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index d54fc5b71..27c1334ca 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -123,6 +123,19 @@ end
     @test all(==(2.0f0), A)
 end
 
+# not part of the shared testsuite: not every back-end supports bits-union arrays
+@testset "POCL zeros/ones of bits-union types" begin
+    for T in (Union{Missing, Bool}, Union{Missing, Int32})
+        Z = KernelAbstractions.zeros(POCLBackend(), T, 3)
+        @test eltype(Z) == T
+        @test all(x -> !ismissing(x) && iszero(x), Z)
+
+        O = KernelAbstractions.ones(POCLBackend(), T, 3)
+        @test eltype(O) == T
+        @test all(x -> !ismissing(x) && isone(x), O)
+    end
+end
+
 @testset "CPU back-end" begin
     Testsuite.testsuite(CPU, "CPU", POCL, Array, POCL.CLDeviceArray)
 end