An investigation into the cause of a forklift driver’s death at a cardboard making factory in British Columbia, has found “particularly unstable” loaded pallets was a significant factor.

The worker who had been using a forklift to stack pallets of litho-laminated corrugated boxes, left the cabin of the forklift to speak with employees in another area of the warehouse. When he returned to his work area and before he re-entered the forklift, a stack of pallets fell over and struck the worker. He later died of his injuries.

In April 2024, WorkSafeBC (Worker’s Compensation Board of British Columbia) handed his employer, the Great Little Box Company (GLBC), a CAD290,548 (US209,506) penalty for the accident.

The Incident Investigation Report Summary conducted by WorkSafeBC and released last week, found the slippery laminated surfaces of the boxes, inconsistent palletisation and a lack of straps around the bundles, “caused them to be particularly unstable”.

“Over the 10 days before the incident, the front row of a large stack of loaded pallets of litho-laminated boxes was completely removed, leaving the back row stacked alone against the wall to a height of 6.3m,” WorkSafeBC states.

“Although it is not known what caused the stack of loaded pallets to fall at the moment it did, the removal of the entire front row of loaded pallets made the remaining back row unstable and vulnerable to disturbance and subsequent collapse.”

The investigation also found workers on foot in the facility in proximity to the unstable stacked pallets “were exposed to hazardous conditions". 

The investigation also found there had been an inadequate hazard identification and risk assessment, there was no company-wide stacking policy and forklift drivers at the site “had not been provided with adequate training and instruction regarding how to stack and unstack pallets loaded with litho-laminated boxes in a way that may have prevented instability”.