Unsafe forklifts cost company

A DANDENONG magistrate has ordered a food flavouring company to pay $10,000 to the Dandenong Benevolent Society after finding it in breach of forklift safety standards.
WorkSafe Victoria last week said it prosecuted International Flavours and Fragrances Australia for failing to implement improvements to forklift safety at the company’s Dandenong-Frankston Road factory.
Dandenong Magistrate Steven Raleigh did not convict the company, but ordered it to donate $10,000 to the Dandenong Benevolent Society and placed it on a 12-month good behaviour bond.
Court costs of $2700 were also awarded against the company.
International Flavours and Fragrances Australia pleaded guilty to failing to implement the requirements of two improvement notices issued in relation to forklift safety in 2005.
WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said improvement notices were a formal direction to improve an identified hazard within an agreed period.
He said both matters had involved risks to pedestrians being hit by forklifts or their loads.
International Flavours and Fragrances Australia employs about 130 people.
The court heard that a WorkSafe inspector went to the company’s plant in July 2005 and observed there were no adequate measures, such as bollards, to prevent pedestrians being hit by forklifts.
WorkSafe executive director John Merritt said forklifts were among the most dangerous pieces of equipment in Victorian work places accounting for deaths and many serious injuries each year.
“Fifty five deaths involving forklifts have been reported to WorkSafe since 1985,” he said.
“Of these, nearly 30 involved pedestrians who were hit by the machines or the loads which fell.
“Physically separating work areas and pedestrian walkways from where forklifts operate is essential.
“Many places still only have lines on the ground to show where forklifts and pedestrians should be, but they’re only part of the solution, as are reflective vests.
“To places with rudimentary arrangements in place for forklifts, we’d say that relying on good luck or the skill of a forklift driver to stop in time to avoid a collision is not the basis of good safety practice.
“Equally, you can’t hope that pedestrians will not walk somewhere they should go,” Mr Merritt said.
“Although safety responsibilities are shared, the employer has the primary duty as they control the workplace.”