A County Court judge has convicted and fined a Laverton North cold storage company
$175,000 after a worker died after being struck and killed by a forklift.
A.B. Oxford Pty Cold Storage Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to workplace health and safety charges before Judge Michael Bourke.
WorkSafe’s investigation of the incident found the company did not have any adequate traffic management system in place when 38-year-old Stephen Peluso of Elwood was hit by a forklift and died on 13 April 2005.
Sentencing the company, Judge Bourke said there was:
- a pressing back-log of material at the company’s warehouse that had to be moved or stored,
- pedestrian walkways were crossed by forklifts and
- as pallets of stock were stacked two high, visibility for forklift drivers was hindered.
He said the forklift driver bore no responsibility for the fatality and that the company’s managers should have known and identified risks which had existed, on and off, for some time.
Forklifts have been involved in the deaths of 56 people in Victoria since 1985. Of these 30 were pedestrians who were struck by a forklift (15) or a falling load (15).
WorkSafe’s executive director John Merritt said with warehouses and businesses facing their busiest time of the year it was essential they had and enforced high standards of traffic management.
“There will be a lot of pressure to get stock in to and out of warehouses, shops and shopping centres in the next few weeks, that’s why having good traffic management which separates pedestrians and forklifts saves lives.
“A reflective vest is little protection against a forklift if the business does not have safe systems in place and if it does not ensure drivers are properly trained and licensed and using a seatbelt.
“At this time of year, many people in these environments are young and / or inexperienced.
They’re at risk if they’re not properly inducted and know the rules about working in areas with forklifts or being able to take shortcuts.
“Having safe forklift management practices reduces risks and ensures everyone will make it to Christmas and beyond.
“Six people have died at work as a result of crushing injuries this year. Although they have been in different working environments, most have involved machines.
“In the cases of so-called ‘near misses’ people should use it as a serious warning not just say ‘That was close.’
“It is not good enough to say ‘we’ve always done it this way and never had any problems’, you must understand the potential for injury or death and do something about it,” Mr Merritt said.