Forklift safety drive

The ACT is taking part in a national campaign to assess and improve forklift safety in the grocery wholesale/retail and fruit and vegetable wholesale/retail industries.

The campaign, which will commence early September, is being conducted by the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA), which is the joint national body of Australia’s OHS authorities, including WorkSafe ACT.

Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe advises that the national campaign aims to reduce the rate of incidents and injury from forklift-related tasks such as loading and unloading vehicles, stating: “The campaign will specifically look at the safety of forklift truck operations, including safe work procedures and the application of control measures to eliminate or minimise incidents of harm.

“Workers compensation statistics show that injuries from manual tasks and moving objects in these industries impose a considerable financial burden.

“Official statistics show that, across Australia in the period 2000 to 2007, there were more than 7400 work-related injuries where forklift trucks were the nominated Agency of Accident.”

The campaign will specifically look at the safety of forklift truck operations, including operator certification, through the following activities by WorkSafe ACT inspectors:

• Assess the initial level of compliance; and
• Provide guidance, assistance and, where necessary, enforcement to improve forklift operation safety.

The campaign also aims to highlight the importance of systematically identifying hazards in workplaces and implementing sustainable control measures to eliminate or minimise incidents of harm.

“The implementation of control measures should safeguard workers from injury, and help reduce the workers compensation cost and other expenses to employers,” McCabe concluded.

After the outcomes and feedback are collated and analysed, the results of the national campaign should be released by the end of 2010.