Shopping centre owners unsuccessfully defend charges relating to forklift incident

The owner of Springvale Shopping Centre in Victoria unsuccessfully defended a safety prosecution and has been fined $60,000, after a retail employee was crushed by a forklift while collecting a delivery from the Centre’s loading bay (WorkSafe Victoria v Owners Corporation Plan No. PS423637R [2026]).

Centre

Springvale Shopping Centre is owned and managed by an owners corporation. The Centre is comprised of retail tenancies, along with areas of common property, including the loading bay, which are under the management and control of the owners corporation. Retail employees would regularly access the loading bay to unload deliveries, retrieve stock supplies and dispose of rubbish.

Incident

On 1 December 2023, a retail employee of KFL Supermarkets accessed the loading bay to retrieve a vegetable shipment that had been delivered earlier in the day. While collecting the vegetables from the pallet, the retail employee was struck from behind by a forklift that was being used by a colleague to rearrange nearby stockpiles. The retail employee became trapped between the pallet of vegetables and the forklift operator’s load, and sustained serious injuries.

Investigation

During WorkSafe Victoria’s investigation, it became apparent that the owners corporation had failed to implement reasonably practicable administrative and physical controls to separate pedestrians from nearby mobile plant, such as implementing:

physical delineation measures (e.g. barriers, chains and line markings) to separate pedestrians from forklift traffic;
designated routes for pedestrians and forklifts; and
clearly marked exclusion zones for pedestrians and operational zones for forklifts.

Judgment

The owners corporation contested the charge but was ultimately found guilty of failing to meet its duty as a person who manages or controls a workplace.

During sentencing, the Court emphasised that the owners corporation had management and control of the loading bay area and was aware of the risks of operating mobile plant in the vicinity of pedestrians. The Court considered there was a need for general deterrence, and to put shopping centre owners on notice of their obligations under health and safety laws as a person with management and control of the workplace. Given the owners corporation sought to defend the charges, it was unable to avail itself of any discount for pleading guilty.

The owners corporation was fined $60,000 and ordered to pay $28,000 towards the Prosecutor’s costs of the proceedings. In related proceedings, KFL Supermarkets was also fined $43,000 and ordered to pay costs after pleading guilty; however, no conviction was recorded against the supermarket.

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