Shopping centre fined following forklift injury

Owners Corporation PS:423637R, trading as Springvale Shopping Centre, was sentenced in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of a single charge of failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to health.

The shopping centre was also ordered to pay $28,159 in costs.

The court heard that in December 2023, a worker employed by a grocer operating within the shopping centre entered a shared loading bay area to collect a delivery of vegetables.

At the same time, a co-worker was operating a forklift to move and reorganise stock. The operator's vision was obstructed by a load about 1.4 metres high and, while driving forward, he struck the worker, crushing her between the forklift load and the pallet of vegetables.

The worker suffered chest injuries, including three broken ribs, and spent three days in hospital.

A WorkSafe investigation found there was no system of work to separate pedestrians and forklifts in the loading bay area; no pedestrian walkways between the building, palletised stock and waste compactors; no clearly marked loading and unloading zones; no designated exclusion zone; and no traffic management plan.

Investigators also found records showing the shopping centre was aware of the risks posed to pedestrians in the loading bay and of measures available to control those risks following an independent risk assessment in 2019.

Despite this, the shopping centre failed to implement measures to separate pedestrians from mobile plant in the loading bay area.

The court heard it was reasonably practicable for Springvale Shopping Centre to have reduced the risk by implementing a traffic management plan that included barriers, chains, line marking or similar controls to separate pedestrians and forklifts, as well as designated pedestrian, vehicle and mobile plant routes, and pedestrian and forklift exclusion zones.

WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said it was unacceptable for a duty holder to be so aware of serious risks and still fail to act.

"It baffles me that the shopping centre was so concerned about the risks in its loading bay that it organised a risk assessment, only to ignore the findings and leave workers exposed to the risk of injury or death," Mr Jenkin said.

"This incident is a stark reminder that control measures must be implemented as soon as a risk is identified, not years later once someone has been hurt."

KFL Supermarket Pty Ltd, the grocer that employed the forklift operator and the injured worker, was fined $43,000 without conviction in January 2026 for failing to provide necessary information, instruction and training to employees.

Employers using mobile plant such as forklifts should ensure:

• A traffic management plan is in place for pedestrians and powered mobile plant and that it is reviewed and updated as appropriate.
• Pedestrians are separated from moving machinery and that an effective communication system between operators, transport contractors and ground staff is in place.
• Signage is in place and barriers are erected where appropriate.
• Visibility issues are identified and controlled, particularly if lighting is poor.
• Workers operating equipment have the appropriate high risk work licences, as required.
• Machinery and vehicles and regularly inspected and maintained by a suitably qualified person.
• Employees and health and safety representatives are consulted about health and safety issues.