If it can move, it can kill

WorkSafe Victoria has warned about the dangers of crushing injuries after two deaths and a serious injury in less than a week.

On 2 October, a man died at a Powelltown sawmill when a 4 metre-high stack of timber fell as the man prepared to position another stack with a forklift; and on 8 October a man died at Northcote when a truck tipped sideways trapping him as he used a truck-mounted crane to move a 4.3 tonne load from another truck. He was standing between the two vehicles which were parked side by side. On the same day, a man suffered serious internal injuries when slabs of stone being unloaded from a shipping container fell at Epping.

WorkSafe executive director John Merritt said while the three incidents were in different circumstances, the warning to all workplaces and workers was that safe systems of work must be in place at all times: “Six people have died at work as a result of crushing injuries this year. The potential for racking, vehicles or stacked goods to move must be considered in any workplace and steps taken to ensure the risk is minimised as far at practicable.

“Loads that have shifted in transit, storage racks not suited to the materials they’re holding or which aren’t attached to walls, vehicles not properly supported or chocked and poor stacking practices can produce consequences that can be instant and permanent. It may be a fatality or lead to someone being crippled, losing an arm or leg, or with a permanent head injury.

“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’. What you must do is understand the potential and do something about it.”