Worker impaled, logistics company charged

Charges have been laid after a worker was impaled and killed at a storage shed in Willaura, south of Ararat, in December 2022.

The 55-year-old man died when the fork attachment of a telehandler impaled him during the construction of a metal framed roller door at the workplace.

Boyd Industries Pty Ltd is facing three charges under section 23(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to ensure that people other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks.

WorkSafe Victoria alleged the company failed to reduce, so far as was reasonably practicable, the risk of serious injury or death from the telehandler, its load, or any attachment coming into contact with a person.

It is also alleged Boyd Industries breached regulation 327(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations by failing to prepare and use a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for high risk construction work.

Image credit: iStock.com/Luca Piccini Basile. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.