Toll Networks (NZ) Limited has been sentenced and fined after a worker was crushed to death by falling pallets.
The major freight distribution and logistics company was ordered to pay $506,300 at the Auckland District Court on Friday.
Reparations of $118,020 were ordered for emotional harm and consequential loss in addition to payments totalling $105,000 which have already been made to the family of the victim. Costs of $6030 were ordered.
The company was charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and faced a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
The incident occurred at Toll’s Onehunga site in September 2016.
The victim was standing beside a forklift and as the driver reversed the pallets it was carrying fell and struck the worker who died at the scene.
A WorkSafe investigation found that Toll had not identified the risk of a pedestrian being hit by freight falling from a forklift.
It also found its pedestrian safety system relied on administrative controls that were “ambiguous and contradictory”.
WorkSafe investigations and specialist services deputy general manager Simon Humphries says pedestrians and moving plant need to be segregated to avoid tragic fatalities.
“This was a much loved father and grandfather whose death would not have occurred if Toll had effective controls in place.
“Administrative controls like rules and procedures are simply not enough, pedestrians need to be segregated from forklift activity.”
The investigation acknowledged Toll’s workplace is constantly changing with many moving vehicles, plant and personnel but more needs to be done to keep workers safe, Humphries says.
“Fixed barriers to separate people from moving plant don’t work in every workplace, but a temporary barrier and warning signage would have kept the victim outside of the dangerous area and alive.”
