Prosecution Details

Being an employer at 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 operates a welding business and is the employer of several employees. At the time of the alleged offence the Accused had a contractual agreement with another company, a manufacturer or caravans, to perform caravan chassis fabrication and welding work. On 10 May 2004 an employee of the Accused and a director of the Accused were at the caravan manufacturer's production facility at Forrestfield performing work under the contract.

In the course of performing work on 10 May 2004 the director 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 four sling chains were passed through the steel straps holding the bundles together. The remaining two sling chains were not used. 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 the employee, 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 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.