A company has been fined $40,000 for repeatedly failing to follow its traffic management system, despite there being no workplace incident the subject of the prosecution (WorkSafe Victoria v Tasmanian Freight Services Pty Ltd). 

On 14 December 2022, WorkSafe Victoria received an anonymous phone call from a worker of national transport and logistics company Tasmanian Freight Services Pty Ltd. 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.

The inspector issued an improvement notice, which was then subject to an application for internal review. During the 9-month period that the notice was extended, the inspector revisited the workplace further times and identified several instances of a lack of compliance with the traffic management plan. 

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. In particular, it was alleged that the company should have had a 3-metre exclusion zone between pedestrians and the powered mobile plant, and/or that the company should have ensured that the designated pedestrian walkways and truck driver safety zones were enforced. 

In sentencing the company, the Court recorded a conviction and ordered the company to pay a fine of $40,000 and to pay 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.