WORKPLACE Standards Tasmania has issued a safety alert regarding the use of work boxes on industrial forklift trucks.
According to Workplace Standards Tasmania, there have been a number of serious incidents involving people falling from heights while working in work boxes that had been elevated on industrial forklifts.
In one of these cases, the fall led to a fatality.
The design of any work box used to carry people must be registered with Workplace Standards Tasmania. It must conform to the requirements of Australian Standard AS 2359.1—1995 Powered industrial trucks— General requirements.
Work boxes which are not registered with Workplace Standards must not be used.
Additionally, the workplace safety authority says the work boxes should only be used in special tasks of short duration, where it is not possible to use a scaffold or other specially designed device.
All operations involving work boxes should be subject to normal risk assessment processes.
Additionally, the forklift should only be used on a hard level surface, operators should use barriers or warning signs to prevent interference during work, and ensure an operator stays with the forklift controls at all times.
Forklift controls other than those used for lifting and lowering should be immobilised, and workers need to ensure the work box is securely attached to the forklift.
Workplace Standards Tasmania also strongly recommends fall protection for any person elevated in a work box. The fall protection must be correctly attached to the work box and needs to be of a standard equal to or better than the standard of AS/NZS 1891.4: 2000.
Workplace Standards Tasmania says it has a zero tolerance policy against detected breaches. Using an unregistered work box is a Level 3 offence under the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations 1998 and attracts a maximum penalty of $18,000.
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