Plant Safety

Recently there have been several incidents involving the use and handling of Plant that has caused some significant injuries or death to employees, not to mention the disruption to business after the incident.

WorkSafe Victoria has just convicted and fined a poultry contractor $1.13 million over an incident in which a man was struck and killed by a forklift on a farm at Lethbridge, near Geelong in 2015.

In the hearing, the company provided evidence that they had two written work procedures for working safety around Plant (forklifts). The court heard that employees were not aware of these procedures, and had not been provided with information, instruction or training about the safe working procedures around Plant. It was also found that the forklift driver had not been inducted into the safety procedures.

In New South Wales, another organisation has just been fined $375,000 over the death of a worker in a forklift accident. SafeWork NSW executive director Peter Dunphy said the incident was "totally preventable", noting the man was not licensed to operate a forklift and that he was not being supervised at the time.

These incidents demonstrate the importance of providing your employees, including contractors with current information and training to enable them to work safely when using and handling Plant.

HAZCON provides a range of training and consultant services options for organisations in relation to Plant Safety including tailored training solutions, development of safety induction programs and the development of organisation and site specific procedures around Plant.