Company fined $140,000 after steel beams crush truck driver
04 Apr 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Arrow Worldwide Pty Ltd has been fined $140,000 after steel beams fell from a semi-trailer at its West Melbourne warehouse, leaving a truck driver with a traumatic brain injury and injuries requiring both legs to be amputated.
The company was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court last Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks. It was also ordered to pay $6,936 in costs.
The court heard that a pack of 12-metre steel beams fell from a flat-top semi-trailer after being loaded by a forklift in May 2021. The driver was standing in the fall shadow when the beams struck his head and crushed both legs, which were later amputated.
WorkSafe's investigation found it was reasonably practicable for Arrow Worldwide to have a system of work separating pedestrians from moving machinery. That system should also have required transport drivers to stay in a marked safety zone and complete a workplace induction before work began, with instructions provided to drivers about the system.
WorkSafe Executive Director Health and Safety Narelle Beer said employers had a duty to ensure their actions did not put other people's health and safety at risk in their workplace.
"We know that pedestrians and mobile plant don’t mix and safety or exclusion zones along with workplace inductions for anyone visiting the site are a crucial part of ensuring safety during loading and unloading work," Dr Beer said.
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