Man involved in forklift accident at Fellmongers Rd, Breakwater, taken to hospital

A man in his 30s has been taken to hospital after being involved in a forklift incident at Godfrey Hirst in Breakwater.

A forklift incident occurred at Godfrey Hirst, Breakwater.

A man in his 30s has been taken to hospital after being involved in a forklift incident at Godfrey Hirst on Tuesday morning.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said paramedics responded to reports of a forklift incident at Fellmongers Rd, Breakwater, about 7.30am.

“One man believed to be in his 30s was transported by road to University Hospital Geelong with a lower body injury, in a stable condition,” he said.

WorkSafe inspectors visited the Godfrey Hirst site soon after.

The company is the largest manufacturer and exporter of residential and commercial carpets in Australasia.

Eliminating forklift incidents is a major focus of WorkSafe.

In May, a forklift driver was fatally crushed by three tonnes of animal feed bags at a freight depot at the Tottenham industrial area in Melbourne’s west.

In November, Geelong Citrus Packers Pty Ltd was sentenced in Geelong Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to two charges of failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work.

As a result, the fruit and vegetable wholesaler was fined $50,000 after a worker was struck by a load falling from a forklift at its Breakwater warehouse.

In July 2021, a worker was washing the wheels of a truck parked in a loading area with his back to a forklift being used to load empty fruit bins onto a trailer, when some of the bins became unsteady and fell on him.

He suffered fractures and two breaks to his lower spine.

In October of last year, LH Holding Management’s sole director Laith Hanna, pleaded guilty to industrial manslaughter over a horror forklift incident in Melbourne’s North.

The case was the first case of its kind to be prosecuted after workplace manslaughter was introduced as a charge under new laws by the state government in 2020.

The man who was killed, was just 25 when he was crushed by a forklift while at work in a stone warehouse in Somerton on October 12, 2021.

The company was convicted and fined $1.3 million.

Originally published as Man involved in forklift accident at Fellmongers Rd, Breakwater, taken to hospital