AN ACCIDENT at Super A-Mart's Cockburn warehouse has cost the furniture retailer $30,000 after two workers were injured when an elevating work platform fell on the men.
The company pleaded guilty in Perth Magistrates Court last week to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment after the August 2011 accident came to light.
The court heard the warehouse had large metal racks, approximately two metres wide by six metres high, used to store furniture and bedding.
Two elevated work platforms, known as order pickers, were then used to load and unload the racks.
At the time of the accident, the two men were moving bunk bed stock using an order picker.
While moving another load of bunk beds at a height of six metres, the order picker toppled over, injuring the two men.
One man suffered minor injuries including cuts and bruising to his right arm while the second man sustained lacerations and significant bruising to his right arm and required two months off work.
An investigation into the incident found the order picker was overloaded by at least 532kg and that the warehouse did not include instructions to check the lifting capacity before loading and unloading from the racking.
The investigation also found the employee operating the order picker did not hold a high risk work licence to operate the machinery while the second employee had only obtained his licence the day before the accident, despite using the order picker for three months leading up to the incident.
WorkSafe WA commissioner Lex McCulloch said the fine highlighted the importance of safe working systems.
"It is crucial that written safe work procedures are in place in workplaces such as this one, and that employers ensure employees are aware of them and putting them into practice," he said.
"It would not have been difficult for the employer to ensure that the lifting capacity information was updated on the data plate of the order picker, and that all employees who operated the order picker had a high risk work licence and had been trained in stock weights.
"Subsequent to this incident, the employer had the relevant employees from its four WA stores trained to obtain high risk work licences, and had weight sensor devices fitted to all order pickers in operation.
"If these steps had been taken earlier, these employees would have been spare a great deal of suffering."
