The board of supervisors in Los Angeles County moved on 21 June to pay USD810,000 to relatives of a pedestrian killed by a forklift near a medical centre operated by the county and the University of Southern California.

A county operator was moving a waste bin with the forklift, which struck Andrew Bagsiao, 86, as he crossed a driveway at the hospital's north loading dock on 21 May 2009.

County investigators found that the operator was unaware of Bagsiao's presence in his path until after the forklift ran over the man.

In the wake of the incident, Los Angeles County has instituted a training requirement for forklift operators and closed off work areas that forklifts use.

Bagsiao's adult children say the employee was negligent in operating the forklift.

Separately, the North Carolina Department of Labor cited Sysco Guest Supply Inc and proposed fines of USD12,550 after supervisor Gary Donald Merrington, 47, fatally fell 19 ft (5.7 m) from a warehouse storage rack.

The department's occupational safety and health division investigated the late March incident in Concord, North Carolina and identified four violations: riding a forklift's tines, working in storage racks without fall protection, leaving the forklift unattended with the forks elevated and failing to triennially re-evaluate forklift operator performance.

Sysco Guest Supply provides lodging and hospitality products from 10 distribution centres nationwide. A related business, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, is listed as a subsidiary of publicly traded Houston, Texas-based Sysco Corp, a global seller, marketer and distributor of food products, equipment and supplies to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and others.

At Sysco Guest Supply's request, an informal conference to discuss the citations was scheduled for 29 June in Charlotte, North Carolina.