$450,000 Fine After Forklift Runs Over 18-Year-Old Worker: What Employers Must Know About Workers Compensation Liability

On 17 March 2026, the NSW Industrial Court handed down a $450,000 fine against Steel-Line Garage Doors Australia Pty Ltd following a workplace incident in which an 18-year-old worker was run over by a forklift at the company’s Mayfield West distribution site. The case is a stark reminder that workers compensation claims, WHS prosecutions, and employer liability do not exist in isolation; they are interconnected consequences of a single failure to keep workers safe.

What Happened

Ms Jennifer Major, a Junior Installation Assistant aged 18, was walking in front of a moving forklift steadying a suspended garage door load when the forklift gained ground on her. She fell and the front left wheel came to rest on both of her legs. Ms Major suffered degloving injuries, crush injuries, fractures, and nerve damage to both legs, required multiple surgeries, and was wheelchair-bound for a period. She subsequently developed anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder -conditions she described to the Court in a Victim Impact Statement as making it “not just a workplace accident, but a life changing event.”

Ms Major had not completed her forklift safety induction training at the time of the incident. The company’s Safe Work Procedure existed on paper but had never been provided to workers at the site.

Workers Compensation Liability: What Employers Need to Understand

Cases like this one generate two parallel streams of liability for employers. The first is the WHS prosecution, the $450,000 fine imposed by the Industrial Court under sections 19(1) and 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW). The second, and often more financially significant, is the workers compensation claim lodged by the injured worker.

Under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) and the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), employers bear a no-fault liability to pay workers compensation benefits to injured workers. These include:

• Weekly wage replacement payments during incapacity
• Medical, hospital, and rehabilitation expenses
• Lump sum compensation for permanent impairment
• Common law damages for serious injuries where negligence is established

In a case involving injuries of the severity suffered by Ms Major; multiple surgeries, permanent physical restrictions, and documented psychological sequelae, the total workers compensation cost to the employer can far exceed the WHS fine. Long tail claims involving ongoing incapacity payments, psychological treatment, and vocational rehabilitation routinely run into hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the claim.

What Went Wrong and What the Law Requires

Bellew AJ described the risk as ‘an accident waiting to happen.’ The Court identified that simple, inexpensive controls were available and not used -including physical separation of pedestrians from moving plant, a tag line to steady loads, and completion of mandatory induction training before work commenced. Following the incident, Steel-Line implemented:

• A 2-metre exclusion zone around all mobile plant
• Electronic pedestrian detection systems on forklifts
• Speed-limited forklifts with red halo delineation zones
• Mandatory induction training before any worker accesses the site
• A dedicated full-time WHS Advisor

These are not extraordinary measures. They are baseline expectations under the WHS Regulation and the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice: Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace. The fact that they were implemented only after a worker was seriously injured is precisely why courts impose substantial penalties -and why insurers and WorkCover authorities take a close interest in the workers compensation implications.

Key principle: A workers compensation claim does not require proof of employer negligence. An injured worker is entitled to benefits simply because the injury occurred at work. However, if the employer’s negligence contributed to the injury, the worker may also pursue a common law damages claim -and the employer’s insurer may seek to recover costs through premium increases or excess payments.

Protect Your Workers and Your Business

Forklift safety, pedestrian separation, and induction training are not complex WHS obligations -but they are consistently among the top sources of workers compensation claims and WHS prosecutions in Australia. HSE Direct provides workplace risk assessments, Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) reviews, WHS Management Plan preparation, and forklift and mobile plant safety audits for businesses across NSW and Australia.

Contact HSE Direct before an incident forces the issue. For related reading, see our Principal Contractor WHS Obligations guide.

Source: SafeWork NSW v Steel-Line Garage Doors Australia Pty Ltd [2026] NSWIC 7, decided 17 March 2026, NSW Industrial Court (Bellew AJ).