How Heavy-Duty Barriers Protect Your Workers From Costly Accidents

Forklifts are an indispensable part of many operations from warehouses and factories to loading docks and distribution centres.  But with their usefulness comes risk.  Serious risk.

With this comes the responsibility for workplaces to manage risk in the plant/workplace:

Every time a forklift moves through your workplace without proper physical controls in place, you’re gambling with your people, your business and your future.

The Reality of Forklift Hazards

It only takes seconds for a forklift to cause irreversible harm.  A slight miscalculation, a moment of distraction or a blind corner and suddenly, someone’s injured or worse.  

And too often, these incidents occur not because the operator made a poor decision, but because the environment failed to protect them.

The statistics in Australia tell the story:

“Over the last two years, SafeWork NSW has recorded an astonishing 598 incidents involving forklifts. Tragically five of these incidents resulted in workplace fatalities,” Mr Williams said.

“While not all incidents involve an injury or death, many of these incidents include collisions between forklifts or other vehicles, rollovers and objects falling off forklifts when loading or unloading.

“The main factor we see in people being killed or seriously injured by a forklift is primarily inadequate separation between pedestrians and forklifts, which leads to pedestrians being hit by a forklift or its load.

In the UK, RIDDOR accident reports over the last few years show that over 40 percent of incidents involving a forklift were impacts with a third person*.  Of these, over 60 percent were pedestrians working nearby, 20 percent were co-workers/supervisors and 15 percent were delivery drivers.

The Role of Heavy-Duty Safety Barriers

Heavy-duty barriers are not optional extras. They are a critical control measure.

These barriers provide physical separation between people and mobile plant, as required by WHS Regulations and Safe Work Australia guidelines in terms of traffic management.  They stop forklifts from veering into pedestrian walkways, damaging racking or impacting critical infrastructure.

To Clarify: Painted lines and signs are not protection.
When a 4-tonne machine is moving with a full load, you need more than good intentions; you need engineered barriers that can absorb and deflect real force.

What Can Go Wrong Without Them?

An unsecured traffic route.  A distracted driver.  A moment of silence that follows a heavy impact.  The ripple effects of that incident do not stop at the scene:

• An injured worker with a long recovery or no recovery at all.
• A traumatised team that no longer trusts their workplace is safe.
• A Safety investigation and potential prosecution.
• A Director or PCBU held personally liable for failing to eliminate or control risks.

Importantly, the barrier that should have been there always gets installed afterwards.

Compliance and Leadership Go Hand-in-Hand

Under the Work Health and Safety Act, you are legally required to manage risks “so far as is reasonably practicable.” Heavy-duty barriers are a clear, accessible and cost-effective control.  Failing to use them is not just a safety issue, it’s a legal one.

More importantly, workers do not just watch what you say; they watch what you invest in.

If safety is a value, it shows up in your infrastructure.
If it is just a slogan, it shows up in your incident reports.

Protect Now, Don’t Regret Later

Installing the right safety barriers is not a luxury. It is prevention. It is leadership. It is business protection.

If your workplace uses forklifts and does not have heavy-duty barriers in place, you have a gap and that gap could cost lives and livelihoods.  Barriers might feel like a cost today, but they are nothing compared to the cost of a serious accident.

Click here to contact us. We are here to help.