Auckland freight company fined $500,000 after pallets crushed worker

Friday, 25 May 2018

Toll Networks Ltd was fined more than $500,000 for the workplace incident.

A freight distribution company has been fined more than $500,000 after a man was crushed to death at its Auckland work site.

Toll Networks Ltd was sentenced in the Auckland District Court on Friday over the September 2016 incident.

Worksafe said the victim was standing beside the forklift at the company's site in Onehunga when the driver reversed.

The pallets fell on the man, killing him.

Toll Networks Ltd was fined $506,300 for the incident and ordered to pay reparations of more than $118,000.

It had already made payments totalling $105,000 to the victim's family.

Worksafe spokesman Simon Humphries said pedestrians and moving vehicles and equipment needed to be separated to avoid fatalities.

'This was a much loved father and grandfather whose death would not have occurred if Toll had effective controls in place,' he said.

'Administrative controls like rules and procedures are simply not enough, pedestrians need to be segregated from forklift activity.'

Worksafe understood the Toll Networks workplace was constantly changing, but more needed to be done to keep workers safe, Humphries said.

'Fixed barriers to separate people from moving plant don't work in every workplace, but a temporary barrier and warning signage would have kept the victim outside of the dangerous area and alive.'