A state coroner has found the death of a Koo-wee-rup man operating a failing forklift in Dandenong South in 2022 was “preventable”, yet there are no prosecutions afoot.
Darren Jeffrey Lamb, a 44-year-old husband and father-of-seven, was fatally crushed by a shipping container as he operated a “faulty or malfunctioning” forklift at Conroy Removals on 17 January 2022.
In her report on the tragedy last month, Coroner Therese McCarthy honed on a gap in workplace regulations for the servicing of forklifts.
She issued a series of recommendations to Standards Australia and WorkSafe.
Lamb had been hired as a high-risk forklift driver at Conroy since March 2021.
CCTV footage showed the forklift’s mast “wavering” as Lamb reversed the Hyundai 130D-7E forklift about 6.07am, Coroner McCarthy stated.
The mast then tilted “significantly backwards”, causing the 3.85 tonne container to fall on the forklift cabin’s roof.
No other worker saw or heard the accident. About half-an-hour later, an employee discovered the shipping container “suspended at an angle” and raised the alarm.
Ambulance Victoria paramedics were unable to reach an unresponsive Lamb for hours, due to the unsafe, precarious position of the container on top of the cabin.
A crane service was hired to remove the container. Paramedics were unable to revive him and pronounced him dead at 10.48am.
WorkSafe investigators found that “the bolts that assist in retaining the mast in the mast mounting hooks” had failed.
The mast attachment’s design was however the main contributing factor to the incident, they found.
Coroner Therese McCarthy ruled that Lamb’s death was a “tragic accident” arising from using a “faulty or malfunctioning forklift”.
The forklift was not routinely inspected for specific mechanical and structural defects as it “ought to have been”. But maintenance measures were “inadequate” and “not outlined” in the relevant Australian Standard, she found.
“Whilst the evidence indicates that Conroy engaged Biondo Forklifts, from whom Conroy Removals had hired the forklift to undertake the maintenance, it is clear that they were maintaining the forklift to an incomplete or lower standard than was warranted.
“Accordingly, I find that Darren’s death was preventable in the circumstances.”
“If the inspection guidelines are more fulsome in regard to the relevant standards, and the forklifts inspected for these defects, it is possible that future fatal incidents could be averted,” the coroner stated.
The relevant Australian Standards advise operators to follow the manufacturer’s recommended servicing of forklifts.
In contrast, the Standards set a mandatory inspections regimen for servicing other industrial trucks such as cranes, hoists and winches.
Coroner McCarthy recommended for Standards Australia to establish more detailed inspection requirements and mandatory inspection frequencies for powered industrial trucks, including forklifts.
She also recommended that Victorian workplace safety regulations impose record-keeping of inspections and maintenance on forklifts or industrial trucks.
Victorian WorkCover Authority was recommended to alert workplaces of these additional obligations.
Meanwhile after its own earlier investigation, WorkSafe has decided not to commence a prosecution.
Nor has the Director of Public Prosecutions, following a review of WorkSafe’s decision.
On the coronial report, a WorkSafe spokesperson said it was “considering the Coroner’s recommendations and will respond in due course”.
A Standards Australia spokesperson said it was reviewing the inspections standard, which was the subject of one of the coroner’s recommendation.
“We have asked the relevant Technical Committee experts to consider the evidence in this case and assist Standards Australia with preparing its response to the recommendation.
“We remain committed to working with the Coroner and relevant stakeholders on the findings.”
Standards Australia expressed its “sincere condolences” to Darren Lamb’s family, friends and colleagues.
“This tragic incident has had a profound impact, and our thoughts remain with all those affected.”
