Minus 1 Refrigerated Transport Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide or maintain a safe system of work after a forklift ran over a yardman’s leg resulting in ‘complex, extensive de-gloving’.
The first incident occurred in January 2022 and involved a forklift striking a truck driver resulting in four broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae. In September 2023 the employer pleaded guilty to one charge under sections 21(1) and 21(2)(a) of the Act for failing to have developed, implemented and enforced a Traffic Management Plan (TMP) and was fined $20,000.
The second incident occurred in June 2023 (while waiting for prosecution of the first incident) and involved a forklift reversing into and colliding with the yardman, dragging his leg under the forklift – the driver then drove forward and over the yardman’s leg again.
The employer has pleaded guilty again under sections 21(1) and 21(2)(a) of the Act for failing to provide or maintain a system of work that was safe and without risks to health by failing to implement a TMP which ensured a three-metre exclusion zone between pedestrians and mobile plant and failing to ensure that the loading and unloading of vehicles occurred in a designated area. The employer has received another $20,000 fine.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria