Employee fined total of $7000 for illegal forklift joyride
Issue Date: - Tuesday, 30 March 2010
An employee has been fined a total of $5000 (plus $2000 costs) on three charges after she took a forklift for an illegal joyride and injured a visitor to the workplace.
Susann Frances Gidion pleaded guilty to failing to take reasonable care to ensure her own safety at work, failing to take reasonable care to ensure the safety of another person and failing to report an injury and was fined in the Armadale Magistrates Court yesterday.
In April 2007, Ms Gidion - an archivist at Genalysis Laboratory Services Pty Ltd in Maddington – was visited by two men at the workplace. One of the men entered the workplace while the other remained in the carpark.
Ms Gidion was not licensed to operate the company’s forklift and had been expressly forbidden by her employer to operate the forklift, which displayed a warning that only licensed operators could use it.
Ms Gidion took the visitor for a joyride on the forklift, and when she turned the machine to the left, the side of the forklift struck a stack of boxes. The visitor, who was riding next to the forklift’s seat, was pinned between it and some racking.
He was transported to hospital by the other visitor, suffering fractured ribs, a broken collarbone and shoulder blade and a punctured lung in the incident.
Ms Gidion did not report the incident to her employer, and the employer only became aware of the incident when the injured man’s mother reported it to Genalysis several days later.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said today that the case provided a reminder that it was not only employers who had responsibility for the safety and health of workers.
“Workplace safety and health legislation here in WA requires that employees take reasonable care to avoid adversely affecting the safety or health of themselves and any other person in the workplace,” Ms Lyhne said.
“This case is a timely reminder that employers are not the only ones who need to participate in ensuring a safe and healthy workplace.
“The worker was not licensed to operate the forklift and the employer had warned her not to operate it, but she made the decision to take it for a joyride. Unfortunately there were serious consequences, both to her finances and the health of her visitor.
“The injury to the man was not reported to the employer, so another lesson to be learned from this case is that incidents must be reported to the employer, who may then be obliged to notify WorkSafe of the injury.
“This unfortunate incident has caused suffering to both parties, and it is worth repeating that everyone in a workplace has some level of responsibility for keeping the workplace safe.”
Further information on workplace safety and health can be obtained by telephoning WorkSafe on 9327 8744 or on the website at www.worksafe.wa.gov.au.
Media contact: Arthur Hanlon 9327 8654 or 0408 911322 (media enquiries only).