Prosecution Details

Being an employer, failed so far as was practicable, to provide and maintain a working environment in which its employees were not exposed to a hazard, and by that contravention, caused serious harm to an employee contrary to sections 19(1) and 19A(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (WA).

Short Summary

At approximately 8:30am on 20 January 2021, a worker employed by Toll Transport Pty Ltd (Toll Transport) was working in Toll Transport’s warehouse at Perth Airport placing stickers on the concrete floor of the freight bays to delineate different freight intended for transportation to mine sites. He was leaning down to place stickers on the concrete floor of a freight bay when a forklift reversed over his left foot and right leg. He suffered serious harm by way of a crush fracture and circumferential degloving of the lower right leg.

Toll Transport Pty Ltd

Toll Transport is a large transportation and logistics company.  At the time of the incident Toll Transport operated a warehouse at Perth Airport and employed more than 100 employees there.

Description of work being carried out at the workplace

Freight was delivered, processed, checked, and sorted into freight bays. Some bays were marked with a sticker on the concrete floor. These bays were located between the loading dock and the breezeway. The sticker on the floor corresponded with an identical sticker which was placed on the freight.

The freight was stored on pallets to enable transportation and placed in the bays. While in the bays, the freight was processed by employees ensuring that the correct stickers on each pallet of freight corresponded with the sticker on the floor of the bay. The sticker contained details of the destination of the freight.

Once the freight was properly checked, it was taken from the freight bays located between the loading dock and the breezeway and loaded onto pans (sealed container trailers) which were parked at the loading dock.

Prior to 8:00am there were 2-3 forklifts moving around the breezeway. This was when the stickers were typically placed at each of the relevant loading bays as this is when it was quiet.

The forks on the forklift carried the load. When the forklift was loaded with freight at the front, the forklift driver was required to drive in reverse and turn their head and use mirrors to see the direction of where the forklift was driving. It was a requirement of Toll Transport’s policy titled ‘Forklift Operations KSSWP003’ for a driver to check over both shoulders and mirrors prior to reversing to ensure there were no pedestrians or other hazards behind the forklift.

Injured worker

The injured worker had been employed by Toll Transport from September 2018 and had over 30 years’ experience in driving forklifts. At the time of the incident he was on light duties in an office type role having returned to work from an injury.

Procedures in place at the time of the incident

At the time of the incident, Toll Transport had a written procedure which required forklift drivers to:

(a)          be aware of walkways and pedestrians;

(b)          maintain a 3 metre exclusion zone surrounding the forklift and its load at all times;

(c)          check over shoulders and mirrors before reversing.

There was also a traffic management plan in place at the time of the incident which required all pedestrians to keep minimum 3 metre exclusion zones from all operational powered mobile plant.

Description of the incident

On commencing work at 7:00am on 20 January 2021, the worker was tasked with changing the stickers on the floor at the freight bays. At this time there were 3 forklifts moving around the breezeway.

The worker placed the stickers on the floor with his back towards the forklifts. Forklifts passed the worker on several occasions. The worker was bent over when a forklift reversed in his direction.

The forklift driver was moving freight that was higher than his field of vision at the front of the forklift and this required him to move the forklift in reverse. The driver was looking over his left shoulder and did not look over his right shoulder while reversing as was required by Toll Transport’s procedure. The driver did not see the worker who was bending down.

The forklift reversed over the worker’s left foot and right leg. The worker called out “stop”. The driver moved the forklift a couple of metres forward after being told to move forward by the worker.

Other employees assisted the worker and called an ambulance. The victim was conveyed to hospital for treatment.

The forklift driver

The driver involved in the incident was a very experienced forklift driver who had worked for Toll Transport for 39 years and had 30 years’ experience in driving forklifts. He had worked at the Perth Airport premises for approximately 8 to 10 years.

Injury

Crushing injury to the victim’s right leg caused serious harm. His injuries were listed as a tibia and fibular crush fracture to the right leg with a 360-degree degloving of the circumferential skin of the lower right leg. He also suffered bruising and torn ligaments to the left leg. Since the incident the victim has undergone 5 operations to his right leg.

Foreseeability

Toll Transport was aware of the risks associated with the operation of forklifts in areas in which interaction with workers might occur.

Practicable measures

It was reasonably practicable for Toll Transport to have used barricades to keep forklifts in operation out of areas where pedestrians were present.  Toll Transport failed to implement effective barricades to prevent forklifts from interacting with pedestrians placing stickers at the ends of labelling bays. Post-incident, Toll Transport implemented the use of barricades.

The offender plead guilty and was convicted on 3 October 2025. The Magistrate issued a fine of $625,000 and ordered costs of $8396.70