Linfox fined $150K for tardy response to identified safety risk

Logistics giant Linfox has been fined $150,000 after a judge found it didn't act on an identified safety risk in time to prevent a forklift crash, which seriously injured a worker. Also in this article, Comcare has launched proceedings against the ARTC over the deaths of two non-employees.

In December 2007 the Linfox Australia Pty Ltd worker was driving a fork truck loaded with a 32-tonne container inside a congested shed when the load struck a stack of stationary containers, and the vehicle overturned.

He suffered severe and permanent injuries to his abdomen and limbs, and is still in danger of losing his right leg.

Following a two-year investigation, Comcare initiated proceedings against the employer.

Safe operation hinged on driver's judgment

In the Federal Court, Justice Neil McKerracher heard that Linfox acquired the Western Australian container yard in August 2006, and - about a month before the incident - appointed a new site manager who identified a number of safety risks, including:

• a culture of speeding in mobile plant;

• dilapidated forklifts; and

• congestion.

At the time of the incident, however, a planned expansion of the site had not been completed, and a formal hazard identification of the worker's tasks had not been undertaken.

"As a result, the link between congestion at the site and the risk of the fork truck tipping had not been identified," Justice McKerracher said.

The worker, he noted, was required to drive with the load raised to a height of more than eight metres (double that recommended by the Australian Standard) to fit through the carriageway.

Justice McKerracher also found that while a speed limit of 8km/hour applied to all vehicles, fork trucks weren't fitted with speedometers, nor instruments to measure the mass of loads or mast tilts.

"The operation of the fork truck in relation to these factors was reliant upon the judgment of the operator," he said.

"The speed of the fork truck and the weight of the container and the height at which the container was being carried were all contributing factors to the incident occurring.

"These factors would have been managed through the installation of controls in the fork truck and/or better training and supervision. Those steps were all reasonably practicable and could have been implemented."

Justice McKerracher ordered Linfox to pay costs of $25,000, in addition to the $150,000 fine.

Comcare v Linfox Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 004 718 647) [2010] FCA 793 (27 July 2010)