Newsletter #362 (View other news stories)
Fined for ignoring forklift safety measures
GERALDTON, Western Australia, Australia
Thursday, 29 May 2008
A lobster processing company has been fined AUD60,000 for failing to provide a safe working environment after an employee died as a result of a workplace fall in December 2005.
At the time, it was common practice at the workplace for people to be lifted on pallets on the tines of forklifts to access the back of trucks, even though the forklifts had a sticker at eye level indicating that people were not to be lifted on the tines.
In this incident, the truck driver fell from the tines of the forklift, striking his head on the bitumen. He died in hospital 10 days later.
"It was up to the employer to provide appropriate training and supervision and have safe work practices in place to ensure that the instructions provided by the forklift manufacturer were followed and that warning stickers were heeded," says WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne.
"Since this incident, the employer has made several changes to make the workplace safer – including prohibiting the lifting of people on forklift tines - but all too late for the unfortunate worker who lost his life.
"The case is a tragic reminder of the need for workplaces to have safe systems of work in place at all times, especially when forklifts are in use."
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