By Alesha Capone
A logistics company has been fined $100,000 after a worker was injured at its Laverton North factory.
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics Pty Ltd was convicted and fined at Sunshine Magistrates Court last month, after pleading guilty to a single charge of failure to provide a safe system of work by not having a traffic management system in place.
The court heard that on August 2, 2016, the worker, who was wearing a high visibility vest, walked behind a reversing electric forklift which was being operated by a colleague.
The worker was struck by the forklift and pushed to the ground and ended up under the piece of machinery. The worker sustained a fractured leg.
Both of the workers were employees of a labour hire company.
A WorkSafe investigation revealed there was no traffic management system in place at the time of the incident, and no physical barriers or other means of separating mobile machinery from workers walking on the factory floor.
On top of a $100,000 fine, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics was also ordered to pay WorkSafe’s costs of $6555.
A statement issued by WorkSafe last week said that after the forklift accident, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics had installed pedestrian walkways, defined by fixed barriers, at the factory.
