Investigators also found the lights on the forklift were not functioning at the time of the incident.
Trade Depot Limited was sentenced at Manukau District Court yesterday. The company was fined $350,000 and ordered to pay $141,502 in reparations.
WorkSafe’s area investigation manager Paul West said it was only by sheer luck that a serious injury or death was not caused before this incident.
“Forklifts were moving in and around pedestrians, delivering goods on a daily basis, but the site lacked any adequate systems to manage the risk of interaction between forklifts and pedestrians in the customer collections area.”
Measures like one-way systems, barriers, designated crossing points, speed bumps, or signage could have prevented this unfortunate injury, West said.
“All businesses whose work requires traffic management should take notice of this case to ensure they aren’t falling short.”
Following the incident, WorkSafe immediately issued two improvement notices to ensure a barrier was put between the pedestrian pathway and vehicles at the Onehunga site and to ensure procedures were in place for forklifts operating near pedestrians.
Both these notices were complied with.
West said forklifts were a known risk yet it was clear these risks were not being appropriately managed in many workplaces.
“Risk assessment should consider anybody who could be harmed – which includes both workers and customers, and businesses must not lose sight of that.”
