A freight company has been fined $240,000 after a forklift tipped on top of a worker, breaking his back and puncturing a lung.
Refrigafreighters Limited, a carrier for chilled and frozen goods, was fined by Worksafe over the September 2022 incident.
It occurred while a worker had been collecting rubbish with a forklift.
"They parked it and put the handbrake on, but when they got out, it started to roll down the slope it was parked on,” a WorkSafe statement reads.
While trying to recover the vehicle, it tipped onto the worker and left him with "serious injuries", including a punctured lung and broken back.
A WorkSafe investigation found the forklift hadn't been properly maintained "to the standard we'd expect".
"We asked specialists to take a look, and what they found was shocking," Casey Broad, WorkSafe’s national manager of investigations, said.
"There were serious safety issues with the handbrake, to the point it would never have been able to stop the forklift from moving even on a slight incline.”
As a result, the company was fined $240,000 at the Manukau District Court on May 7, and ordered to pay $62,279 in reparations.
Broad said the sentence was a reminder to businesses to ensure their forklifts and other vehicles were safe to use.
"If businesses don’t meet their health and safety responsibilities, WorkSafe will hold them to account.
“A lot of businesses use forklifts but, like any vehicle, they need to be serviced and maintained so issues are picked up early and fixed. If you don’t, things can go wrong quickly.
“Unfortunately there are too many incidents involving forklifts in New Zealand – businesses can do better to keep people safe.”
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