Michael Gorman pleads guilty to safety charge over Lara forklift accident

The devastating impact of a forklift accident that led to the death of a father-of-two has been laid bare in court, after the operator involved admitted to negligence.

Michael Gorman, 52, has pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to take reasonable care. Picture: supplied.

The devastating impact of a forklift accident that led to the death of a father-of-two has been laid bare in court after the operator involved admitted to negligence.

Michael Gorman, 53, fronted the County Court at Geelong on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to a single count of failing to take reasonable care, as an employee, for the health and safety of others.

The charge does not carry a jail sentence.

The charge stemmed from a forklift accident in Lara on October 16, 2021, in which Gorman’s colleague, 49-year-old Glenn Humm, was killed.

About 10 family members of Mr Humm appeared in court.

Glenn Humm, 49, was killed in a workplace accident at Air Radiators on October 16, 2021. Picture: Tucker's website.

Crown prosecutor Megan Tittensor SC told the court Gorman and Mr Humm had been tasked with removing material from around a guillotine in a shed that was set to be moved by crane.

One piece of equipment that needed to be moved was a large stillage used to collect offcuts from the guillotine.

The stillage was a trolley on wheels containing steel sheets of various thicknesses and was not designed to be moved by forklift.

It had a combined weight of more than 1.3 tonnes and, with the weight concentrated on one side, was unstable.

Gorman was driving the forklift with Mr Humm acting as a spotter.

The stillage, which “wobbled” as the forklift moved, was not loaded so it was sitting against the forklift’s backrest.

The risk was “pretty obvious”, Ms Tittensor said, and the stillage was “teetering”.

On a ramped slope outside one of the shed’s doors, Gorman attempted to turn, at which point the stillage slipped and crushed Mr Humm.

In a victim impact statement she read to the court, Mr Humm’s partner Janine described her “anger and disbelief” and “never-ending grief” at the loss of the her soulmate, who she had been with for 33 years.

“The day Glenn died, I lost the person I was and I don’t think I’ll ever see her again,” she wrote.

The victim impact statement of Mr Humm’s daughter, Alicia, was read by Ms Tittensor.

In it, she wrote of her father’s infectious laugh and positive energy, and how she felt heartbroken that her father had not been able to walk her down the aisle at her wedding in 2023.

Gorman sat behind his counsel, along with a number of supporters.

His lawyer, Amanda Dickens, told the court her client was remorseful and devastated by the incident.

The court heard Gorman had offered to plead guilty at an early stage and was suffering from “clear, profound, debilitating” post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ms Dickens argued Gorman’s moral culpability was low.

“This is not a case where there is evidence of skylarking or an intentional cutting corners,” Ms Dickens said.

She told the court Gorman – who was a contractor – believed he would lose his job if he didn’t move the stillage.

Gorman’s inability to work since the accident had placed stresses on his family, the court heard, and Ms Dickens urged the court not to “crush the family with a fine”.

Gorman will be sentenced on January 24.

Originally published as Michael Gorman pleads guilty to safety charge over Lara forklift accident