A LAVERTON North company has been convicted and fined $375,000 over the death of a worker who was crushed by a large computer server that fell off a forklift.
Freight company AirRoad was sentenced in the County Court last month after pleading guilty to failing to provide a safe system of work.
The court heard a 60-year-old worker died when a computer server fell on him as it was being unloaded in January 2010 at the company’s Boundary Road factory.
The man was guiding a forklift driver, who was to remove the computer equipment from the back of a semi-trailer.
The equipment, which weighed about 630 kilograms, was on castors and not mounted on a pallet.
It fell on him, crushing his chest. He died at the scene.
The court was told the forklift was on sloping ground, there was a strong wind blowing, and the company had failed to enforce a buffer zone while oversized freight was being unloaded from the truck.
WorkSafe’s general manager of health and safety, Lisa Sturzenegger, said forklifts were a major contributor to deaths and serious injuries in workplaces.
“Forklifts and people working close by simply don’t mix.
“Traffic management plan incorporating physical separation of forklifts and people is essential,” she said.
