Health and Safety Cracks Down on Height Risks.

Cairns workplace incident leaves man crushed by forklift with serious injuries.   

A 38-year-old man is currently in a stable condition in Cairns Hospital after reportedly being crushed by a forklift at a Bentley Park business in a southern Cairns suburb.

Emergency services, including a critical care unit, treated the man for head, facial, pelvic, and spinal injuries before transporting him to hospital with serious injuries.

The man is understood to have been crushed when the vehicle drove up a ramp and rolled back onto him.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland are investigating the accident.

The original article can be found on the Cairns Post website.

Businesses fined as Workplace Health and Safety cracks down on height risks.

Two companies in Cairns have been fined for unsafe elevated workplace practises following WHS investigations into the death of a worker who fell 7m while installing air ducts in 2018.

The company's license was suspended by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission that year but reinstated due to compliance with an auditor and the commission's conditions one month later.

The business failed to comply with it's health and safety duty again in April this year, but the charge was dropped as WHS offered no evidence against it.

Fines of more than $10,000, including four prohibitions, four improvement notices and three infringement fines have recently been issued to two local Cairns persons conducting a business or undertakings where fall risks were not controlled.

A WHS spokeswoman said, 'In relation to all workplaces, WHSQ inspectors put a high focus on working at heights, where the risk of falling is not controlled'.

'Monitoring and enforcing compliance ensures PCBUs and other duty holders comply with their safety obligations. WHSQ's role as the regulator first and foremost is to eliminate risk of exposure to injury, illness or death.'

The original article can be found on the Cairns Post website.