Penalty prompts WHSEQ warning on unloading procedures and training
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSEQ) has spotlighted the importance of proper unloading procedures and training after a company and officer were fined after an elderly customer was struck during a water tank delivery.
A Brendale company was fined $34,000 and its officer $20,000 (and both ordered to pay costs of nearly $850) after a woman was injured in May 2018 when struck by a 400kg water tank being unloaded at her Morton Vale property.
WHSEQ reports both defendants pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court over breaches to section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act for failing to comply with its duty.
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“The tank was supplied and delivered by the company. The delivery driver had only been employed by the company for 14 days,” it notes.
“The court heard the driver had received ‘hands on’ training in a system for the delivery of tanks by pushing the tanks off the truck or trailer onto the ground.
“The tanks would bounce and roll some distance before coming to a stop when pushed off the truck or trailer.
“There was no system of establishing an exclusion zone and lowering the tanks to the ground in a controlled manner.
“The woman was struck when she walked in the path of the tank being pushed off the trailer, and, although the driver did not warn her before he pushed the tank off the trailer, it was clear that he was in the process of unloading the tank.
“The driver did not see the woman when he pushed the tank to the ground and was unaware that she had moved into the path of the tank.
“The tank knocked the home owner to the ground and she suffered a fractured sternum, soft tissue injuries, bruising and a laceration above her eye.”
The court heard that although the company had procedures in place for unloading of tanks, the driver had not been trained in the procedures, which included where customers were to put themselves in dangerous situations, WHSEQ adds.
Following the incident, the company sought assistance from WHSEQ and amended its procedure to include the establishment of exclusion zones and the controlled lowering of tanks.
A proactive approach to addressing the incident worked in the company’s favour, as no convictions were recorded, with the court noting the early pleas, considerable remorse and full co-operation with the WHSQ investigation. Both defendants had no previous convictions.