WorkSafe warns on forklifts after FTG pub incident

AN outer eastern hotel owned by Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Ltd has been convicted and fined $10,000 after a safety breach involving a forklift.

The company pleaded guilty to one charge against section 21(1) & (2)(a) laid under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Although no one was hurt in the case heard this week, WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt, said a man could have fallen two metres and suffered a serious injury or died.

Dandenong Magistrate Clifford was told a WorkSafe inspector saw two men working on gates at Ferntree Gully’s Club Hotel on 19 February this year.

One man was standing on a pallet raised about two metres on the tynes of a forklift while a second man stood underneath.

Magistrate Clifford said the real issue in this case was the lack of training and instruction. He said photographs produced by WorkSafe demonstrated a unique, but inappropriate way, of using a platform.

Merritt said forklifts were involved with 52 reported fatalities in Victoria since 1985. Seven of those deaths were as a result of falls from the tynes or the load.

“Forklifts must be used for the purpose for which they were designed. If they must raise people, it is essential that cages suited to the task are used.

A man died this year in South Gippsland when he fell from a pallet raised on a forklift.

Last month, Cheltenham door manufacturer R.E. Spence and Company Pty Ltd was convicted and fined $50,000 after a sub-contracted carpenter fell 3.5 meters from an unsafe cage raised by a forklift.

The court was told the tradesman aggravated existing knee and back injuries and could not walk for three months.

A director of the company, Richard Francis Lees also faced charges. Another contractor had told him that the cage was unsafe several weeks before the incident.

Lees, who was supervising the refurbishment work pleaded guilty, was placed on a one-year good behaviour bond and ordered to pay $5000 to the Austin Hospital’s spinal unit.

“Forklift cages have a limited range of uses and must be manufactured, used and maintained in accordance with Australian standards,” Merritt said.

The court was told that although the carpenter had arranged to use a scissor lift, others on site were using it at the time. To get the job done, the company allowed the unsafe cage to be raised by the forklift and consequently put the employee at risk.

New regulations on working at heights above two metres came into force in March. They clarify the long-standing requirement for all employers to maintain a safe workplace.

Victoria’s new Prevention of Falls Regulations can be found on WorkSafe’s website www.workcover.vic.gov.au by following the links on the homepage.

*Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Ltd was fined $25,000, without conviction, at the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on 22 June after a chef suffered second degree burns at a Fawkner Hotel. For more details see WorkSafe’s media release 2 July 2004 under NEWS RELEASES at www.worksafe.vic.gov.au Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Ltd controls more than 330 hospitality venues and bottle shops across Australia.

Forklift safety tips:

· high visibility vests are no replacement for a workplace where forklifts and pedestrians are separated

· no-go zones must separate pedestrians and forklifts during loading and unloading. establishing these areas may be a life-saving business decision

· as a minimum, the danger zones around forklift operating areas must be marked out and steps taken to ensure pedestrians do not have access

· in an emergency, such as avoiding a pedestrian, even a minor application of the brakes when carrying a standard load is enough to tip a forklift over or spill the load

· the risk of tipovers can be reduced by using larger capacity forklifts, electronic warning systems, speed governors and other features

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