Prosecution Details

Being a person having control of a workplace at which there were industrial lift trucks, failed to ensure that a person operating the industrial lift truck was a person who had documentary evidence that he satisfied the competency requirements of the National Guidelines for Occupational Health and Safety Competency Standards for the Operation of Load Shifting Equipment and Other Types of Specified Equipment for load shifting equipment; contrary to Regulation 4.55(1)(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 made under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984.

The Accused is a manufacturer of Caravans, having a production facility at Forrestfield (the Workplace). The Accused had control of the Workplace at all material times.

In addition to employing persons directly, the Accused also contracts others to perform some elements of the manufacturing process. On 10 May 2004, the Accused had contracted another company (the Company) to perform chassis fabrication and or welding work.

On 10 May 2004 the Company's employees were at the Workplace performing work under the contract. In the course of performing this work a director of the Company was operating a Mitsubishi Forklift together with a lifting jib and a 4 leg chain sling attachment, to lift and move lengths of steel several metres long which were held together in bundles by steel straps. To lift the bundles of steel, two of the sling chains were passed through the steel straps holding the bundles together. None of the sling chains were passed around the entire bundle of steel.

On this occasion an incident occurred during the lifting of a steel bundle, whereby the strapping holding the lengths of steel together came undone, causing those lengths to fall onto the torso and legs of an employee of the Company who suffered a broken right foot together with other leg injuries as well as bruises and abrasions to his chest.

The director later stated that he was an experienced forklift operator, having operated forklifts for some 35 years, but admitted that at the time the incident occurred he did not have documentary evidence that he had satisfied the competency requirements of the National Guidelines for Occupational Health and Safety Competency Standards for the Operation of Load Shifting Equipment and Other Types of Specified Equipment [NOSHC: 7019 (1992)] for load shifting equipment.

The Accused pleaded guilty.