$40,000 fine after forklift crushes worker’s leg

A shipping, transport and logistics company in Victoria has been fined $40,000 after a worker on a pedestrian walkway was struck by a forklift in its Port Melbourne warehouse.

Searoad Logistics was fined without conviction and ordered to pay an additional $9,870 in costs in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

The company pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing, so far as reasonably practicable, to ensure the workplace was safe and without health risks.

The court heard that in May 2020, seconds after a forklift drove out through an open roller door, a truck driver walked into the warehouse via the same door. As he continued along the marked walkway, the forklift reversed back into the warehouse, hitting him and crushing his left leg.

A WorkSafe Victoria investigation found it was reasonably practicable for the company to reduce the risk to health and safety by having a traffic management plan in place, and ensuring truck drivers were inducted into the workplace and advised of the plan.

It was also reasonably practicable to use physical barriers to stop people using the pedestrian walkways walking into areas where forklifts were operating, and mirrors to improve forklift drivers’ visibility.

“We know that forklifts can be dangerous and there is simply no excuse for employers not doing everything possible to ensure that they operate in a way that is safe for everyone on the site,” said WorkSafe Victoria executive director of health and safety Narelle Beer.

“That means ensuring that traffic management plans are in place and up to date and that anyone entering the workplace is properly inducted on safety – as well as practical things such as installing barriers to separate pedestrians from moving plant.”