“Enough’s enough!”
That’s what the owners of a produce marketplace in Sydney, Australia, said after a series of forklift accidents resulted multiple injuries and at least one fatality.
Multiple forklift accidents at Sydney Markets — the largest fresh food market in the southern hemisphere — in 2012 and 2013 prompted the market’s owners to require seatbelts and rollover bars to be installed on and used by any forklift operating within the business.
Colin Gray, chief executive of the Chamber of Fruit and Vegetable Industries, said making seat belts mandatory for forklift operators will reduce injuries and deaths for market workers.
“People said you’d never get it done, but tit’s hard to find someone not wearing seatbelts,” Gray told the Australian Broadcasting Company. “When a forklift vehicle starts to tip, the natural reaction is to jump. The problem with jumping is the forklift will turn over quicker than most people can jump. So part of you will be caught under the superstructure of the forklift and you will be crushed. So a seat belt keeps the driver inside the cage of the forklift and they don’t suffer the same sort of injury.”
The market is a busy place. More than 50,000 people visit the market each Saturday to buy bulk fresh produce.