$40,000 fine for warehouse traffic management plan failures

A warehousing and logistics company in Victoria has just been fined $40,000 for repeatedly failing to follow its traffic management system. The fine was issued despite there being no workplace incident as the subject of the prosecution.

What happened

On 14 December 2022, WorkSafe Victoria received an anonymous phone call from a worker from a national transport and logistics company. The worker notified WorkSafe of a potential offence that involved a forklift unloading a trailer in the loading zone of the workplace. 

Following a site visit, a WorkSafe inspector determined that there was no offence. However, the inspector noticed that the company was failing to comply with its traffic management plan as evidenced by multiple safety issues, including:

•  Forklifts loading pallets onto a truck and pushing them toward workers on the opposite side.

•  Forklifts operating within a metre of pedestrians.

•  Workers crossing a yard without designated walkways, near moving forklifts.

•  Pedestrian walkways obstructed by stored products.

•  Lack of clearly marked “no-go zones” for forklifts.

The inspector issued an improvement notice, which was then subject to an application for internal review. Despite being issued with an improvement notice, subsequent visits by WorkSafe in May, July, and August 2023 found little improvement, with inspectors observing further instances of lack of compliance with the traffic management plan, including:

•  A truck driver confronting a forklift operator for driving too close.

•  Forklifts crossing walkways as pedestrians were using them.

•  Workers interacting with forklifts while walking in the warehouse and driveway.

•  Faded walkways and line markings.

The court case

In WorkSafe Victoria v Tasmanian Freight Services Pty Ltd, the court heard that these risks could have been mitigated by implementing a comprehensive traffic management plan to ensure that a three-metre exclusion zone between pedestrians and powered mobile plant was maintained and/or designated pedestrian walkways and truck driver safety zones were maintained; and that it was “reasonably practicable” to have implemented these measures.

As a result, the company was charged with a breach of section 26(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) for its failure to eliminate or reduce the risk of serious injury or death to persons working in the vicinity of forklifts.

The Court recorded a conviction and ordered the company to pay a fine of $40,000 and to pay court costs of $4,037. The Court took into account that the company had previously been fined for a forklift incident but had invested in further remedial steps to improve its systems of work.

Applicability to Model WHS Laws

• The WHS Model law equivalent of Section 26(1) of the VIC OHS Act 2004 is Section 20 of the Model WHS Act 2011, Duty of persons conducting businesses or undertakings involving management or control of workplaces.

• If this case was tried in other states, such as New South Wales, it could be expected that the Director(s) be personally prosecuted and fined for failures as officers of the PCBU to demonstrate health and safety “due diligence” as per Section 27 of the WHS Act 2011.

• The Model laws describe what would be deemed “reasonably practicable” in Section 18 of the WHS Act.

Warehouse safety solutions

Traffic management plans (pedestrian safety) are covered in the Courtenell Warehouse Safety Workshop which is a group course delivered either as a 4-hour awareness course or more comprehensively as a full day course. A Courtenell trainer will come to your site to deliver it to your group or groups.

In addition to pedestrian safety, this course covers the key safety considerations and concerns found in Australian warehouses, including picking and packing, conveyor safety, pallets and racking, and fatigue management, among other topics. If your business involves warehousing and logistics, we recommend having a look at this training course as an option for training your warehouse staff, or even to reaffirm and validate the measures you have in place that ensure the continuing success of your warehouse operations.