Zero Harm at Work Leadership Program

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Zero Harm at Work Leadership Program Traffic
Management Forum
Transport Strategy Group
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Statistics

• Each year there are about
• 600 injuries involving
• forklifts
• 38 of these are
• serious injuries
• With an average of one fatal accident each year
• (The fatality is usually the result of the
  worker being crushed in a forklift rollover)

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Causes of injury

• The most common causes of injury are
• Falling off the forklift
• Being crushed by a forklift
• Getting on or off a forklift or poor posture

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Injuries suffered
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Recent cases

• A truck driver had made a delivery and was
  unloading his vehicle when a forklift struck him,
  injuring his right leg
• The business pleaded guilty to failing to take
  all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the
  safety of non-employees
• Original fine
• - 5,000 without conviction plus 5,000 costs
• On Appeal the Court imposed a new fine
• - 20,000 without conviction, plus costs of
  7,000

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Recent cases

• A truck driver making a delivery was struck by a
  forklift and sustained head, shoulder and thigh
  injuries
• The employer pleaded guilty to failing to provide
  employees with sufficient instruction, training
  or supervision to perform their work safely
• Fined 3,000 without conviction plus 7,000 costs
• External site was also charged over the incident
  and fined 1,000 which was increased to 7,500 on
  Appeal

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Recent cases

• Employees were unsafely using the same area of
  its warehouse for both receiving and dispatching
  stock by forklift
• The business pleaded guilty to traffic management
  breaches
• Placed on a 12-month adjourned undertaking and
  required to donate 20,000 to a charity
• On Appeal the employer was ordered to enter the
  undertaking and pay 2,802 in costs

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Workshop topics

• The following topics were identified by the
• participants for the workshop as they arrived
• at the forum
• Forklift interaction with pedestrians
• Traffic flow
• Operator behaviour

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Forklift interaction with pedestrians

• Why is this an issue?
• Design/site
• Site design/warehouse capacity
• Scheduling - pressure on operators
• Equipment type (side saddle etc) - fit for
  purpose plant
• Human factors
• Forklift will take the damage
• Driver perception of the forklifts size (it seems
  small, like a toy)
• Communication between operator and pedestrian
• Human behaviour, are people who interact with
  forklifts aware of the rules?
• Administrative controls - relying on individuals
  to comply
• External influences
• Enforcement
• Weather
• External site conditions
• Unplanned work

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Traffic flow

• Why is this an issue?
• Design/site
• Communication
• Site design
• Lack of effective scheduling, time slotting
• No effective induction process
• Uncontrolled activities and vehicles
• Lack of clear signage
• General congestion
• Work area segregation
• Human factors
• Time constraints, drivers in a rush
• Communication
• External influences
• Customer sites
• Communication

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Operator behaviour

• Why is this an issue?
• Design/site
• Enforcement of rules
• Work demands
• Operators dont realise the importance
• Communication of processes
• Inductions too much information, overload, too
  hard, dis-interest
• Repetition of tasks, forklift driving/truck
  driving
• Human factors
• Saving time, short cuts
• Operators dont realise the importance, dont see
  it as a priority
• Type of operators, risk takers
• Perception of safety measures (unproductive, a
  hassle)
• External influences
• Personal pressures
• Inductions too much information, overload, too
  hard, dis-interest

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Solutions - Forklift interaction with pedestrians

• What can industry do?
• Design
• Look for better options - introduce different
  types of equipment
• Warehouse design
• Speed control (automatic?)
• Using fit for purpose forklifts
• Exclusion zones/segregation
• Administrative
• Education and training ongoing assessment of
  competence
• Licensed doesnt necessarily mean competent, not
  always competent for certain types of plant.
• Training across all of the organisation
  (including pedestrians)
• Consultation
• Improve workforce awareness of risks -
  demonstrate blind spots
• What can WHSQ do to assist industry?

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Solutions - Traffic flow

• What can industry do?
• Design
• Changing the environment - improve signage
  (Australian standard signage)
• Scheduling, then enforcement of that schedule
• Speed - monitoring of site (camera)
• Consistent approach e.g. flow of traffic, at
  different depots
• Administrative
• Clear expectations
• Ensure the right fleet goes into the site
• Continuous review of processes etc
• Consultation
• Share/feed information to supply chain/other
  operators that you interact with
• Effective customer consultation - ensure
  communicated with the appropriate person
• What can WHSQ do to assist industry?

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Solutions - Operator behaviour

• What can industry do?
• Design
• Looking at tasks - job sharing, reduce
  repetition, challenging staff (up to 8 hours a
  day on a forklift)
• Administrative
• Strong leadership - set clear expectations about
  behaviour, and the consequences to unsafe
  behaviour
• Look at staff behaviour, are they risk takers
  Training should be done by a qualified person,
  ensure competent person provides the training
• Consultation
• staff need to know what the hazard or risk is, so
  they can control the risk themselves
• Worker engagement - consultation at the coal face
• What can WHSQ do to assist industry?
• Streamlining the induction process and
  standardise for the transport industry
• Provide proactive education and awareness on-site
• Improve dissemination of prosecutions Australia
  wide to the transport industry
• Targeted campaigns at smaller operators