Shopping centre fined $60K after worker crushed between forklift load and pallet of vegetables

A shopping centre in Melbourne’s south-east has been convicted and fined $60,000 after being found guilty of a single charge of failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to health.

It follows a December 2023 incident in which a worker — employed by a grocer operating within the shopping centre — entered a shared loading bay area to collect a delivery of vegetables.

To move and reorganise stock, a co-worker was operating a forklift at the same time. While driving forward, the operator’s vision obstructed by a load about 1.4 metres high, he struck the worker, crushing her between the forklift load and the pallet of vegetables.

The worker sustained chest injuries, including three broken ribs, and spent three days in hospital.

There was no system of work to separate pedestrians and forklifts in the loading bay area, a WorkSafe Victoria investigation found. It was also found that there were no pedestrian walkways between the building, palletised stock and waste compactors; no clearly marked loading and unloading zones; no designated exclusion zone; and no traffic management plan.

Records showing the shopping centre was aware of the risks posed to pedestrians in the loading bay and of measures available to control those risks following an independent risk assessment in 2019 were also found by investigators. Despite this, the shopping centre failed to implement measures to separate pedestrians from mobile plant in the loading bay area.

It was reasonably practicable, the court heard, for the shopping centre to have reduced the risk by implementing a traffic management plan that included barriers, chains, line marking or similar controls to separate pedestrians and forklifts, as well as designated pedestrian, vehicle and mobile plant routes, and pedestrian and forklift exclusion zones.

“It baffles me that the shopping centre was so concerned about the risks in its loading bay that it organised a risk assessment, only to ignore the findings and leave workers exposed to the risk of injury or death,” WorkSafe Victoria Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said.

“This incident is a stark reminder that control measures must be implemented as soon as a risk is identified, not years later once someone has been hurt.”

WorkSafe Victoria advises that employers using mobile plant such as forklifts should ensure:

• A traffic management plan is in place for pedestrians and powered mobile plant and that it is reviewed and updated as appropriate.
• Pedestrians are separated from moving machinery and that an effective communication system between operators, transport contractors and ground staff is in place.
• Signage is in place and barriers are erected where appropriate.
• Visibility issues are identified and controlled, particularly if lighting is poor.
• Workers operating equipment have the appropriate high risk work licences, as required.
• Machinery and vehicles are regularly inspected and maintained by a suitably qualified person.
• Employees and health and safety representatives are consulted about health and safety issues.
   

Image credit: iStock.com/simonkr. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.