WorkSafe targets forklift safety with new guidance and inspections

The guidance gives employers practical information on using and maintaining forklifts safely, with a focus on keeping them separate from people on the ground. It outlines risk controls including physical barriers, exclusion zones and signage as part of workplace traffic management.

Employers are also encouraged to consider retrofitting relatively low-cost safety technology. Options include sequential seatbelt interlocks, which prevent a forklift from starting without a seatbelt in place, and proximity devices that detect pedestrians and automatically slow mobile plant to a low speed.

WorkSafe inspectors will begin the statewide program this week. Manufacturing, postal and warehousing workplaces will receive particular attention because these sectors account for most forklift-related deaths and injuries.

WorkSafe data shows that, on average, more than one Victorian worker each week suffers a serious injury after being struck by a forklift or a falling forklift load. Eight people have died in forklift-related workplace incidents since 2019, including three pedestrians working nearby. Pedestrians accounted for 65 of the 157 accepted forklift injury claims last year.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said employers needed the right information and guidance to better manage forklift risks. "Forklifts are an important piece of machinery for many Victorian workplaces, however, if not used and managed safely, they also have the potential to cause serious harm," Dr Beer said.

"Through measures such as this new guidance and the work of our inspectors, WorkSafe is ensuring employers are taking proactive steps to ensure their workers and others are safe around forklifts."

WorkSafe said it would not hesitate to act where employers put workers in danger. Over the past 12 months, courts imposed or accepted more than $2.4 million in fines and undertakings across 16 WorkSafe prosecutions involving forklifts.

Those cases included Victoria's first workplace manslaughter prosecution in February. LH Holding Management Pty Ltd was convicted and fined $1.3 million after a 25-year-old subcontractor was killed by a forklift operated by the company director. The forklift had a raised load on a sloping driveway when it tipped over and landed on the subcontractor.

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