COMPETENCY

When a storeperson was reversing a forklift truck into the warehouse, his left leg became suspended on the outside of the cabin and was crushed between it and the metal racking in the warehouse.

The storeperson did not have a certificate of competency to operate the forklift. His employer did not have adequate procedures for recording whether employees were competent or not. The system in place did not ensure that trainee forklift operators were supervised or that training logbooks were kept.

The employer was prosecuted for breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 because of its failure to provide and maintain a safe system or work.

In the Chief Industrial Magistrate’s Court, the employer pleaded guilty and explained that the storeperson had held himself out as having a certificate of competency and had worked under direct supervision for five months. The breach had been the failure to sight the certificate. After the accident, qualifications were sighted and logbooks were kept.

The Court found that the culpability for the accident was in the low range. The employer’s caring attitude to the injured employee was noted and there was no need for a deterrence factor in the penalty.

A conviction and a fine of $2,000 was imposed.