On 22 May 2025 WorkSafe Victoria released a new Forklift Safety Guidebook.
In their media release WorkSafe Victoria noted:
The newly-published guidance provides practical advice to employers on the safe use and maintenance of forklifts and highlights the need to separate forklifts from people on the ground.
WorkSafe data shows on average more than one worker every week in Victoria is seriously injured after being struck by forklifts or falling forklift loads.
The guidance outlines ways to reduce the risk by ensuring traffic management systems, such as physical barriers, exclusion zones and signage are in place.
Sadly, eight people have been killed in forklift-related workplace incidents since 2019, including three pedestrians working near forklifts. Pedestrians also accounted for 65 of the 157 accepted claims last year where the cause of injury was a forklift incident.
The guidance also encourages employers to consider retrofitting relatively low-cost safety technology such as sequential seatbelt interlocks, which prevents the forklift being started without a seatbelt in place, and proximity devices that detect pedestrians and automatically power mobile plant down to low speed.
The full media release is available here
The PDF version of the Guidebook is available directly from WorkSafe Victoria here or from the AFITA website in the State and Territory Resources section, here.