A FORKLIFT driver who filmed himself performing dangerous burnouts and wheelies and then posted it on YouTube was yesterday convicted of breaching safety laws.
In the first case of its kind in Victoria, Matthew Garry Ward was prosecuted with the help of his own video clips. His forklift licence will be cancelled.
Seymour Magistrates' Court heard Ward was sacked after his boss discovered the YouTube footage, filmed on company premises, seven weeks after it was posted. Video: Forklift follies In that time the YouTube clip, which has since been removed, received 238 hits.
Entitled "How 2 pass you forklift License (sic)" it showed Ward performing dangerous two-wheeled manoeuvres on the five-tonne company forklift, loaded with huge reinforced concrete pipes.
The court was told Ward filmed his antics with his mobile phone, which he placed on a pile of concrete pipes. In the final clip Ward performs stunts that he advises viewers to avoid when applying for their forklift licences.
In one scene he repeatedly reverses at high speed, rear wheels aloft and the forklift weighed down by the heavy load; it comes crashing down when he suddenly stops.
In another scene, Ward burns rubber until smoke starts to billow from beneath the machine. He also crashes into piles of concrete pipes.
Ward, 20, of Kilmore, yesterday pleaded guilty to one health and safety charge of failing to take reasonable care for his own health and placing himself at serious risk.
WorkSafe prosecutor Karen Argiropoulos says the employer, Australian Profiles and Pre-Cast Pty Ltd, was alerted to the clip by another employee.
She says a WorkSafe inspector who examined the footage found Ward's deliberate stunts breached occupational health and safety laws and placed not only him but possibly others at risk.
He failed to wear a seatbelt, sped forward while looking sideways at the camera, and had no control over the forklift. There have been 56 forklift-related deaths in the past 13 years.
Defence lawyer Greg George says Ward was not proud of his behaviour and in hindsight realised it was very immature. His client had not thought through his actions and was devastated to lose a job he loved and was skilled at.
"Had he not recorded it, probably nobody would have known about it," he says.
Magistrate Caitlin English says Ward had engaged in dangerous risk-taking and it was remarkable he had not been seriously injured.
She ordered Ward to perform 50 hours of unpaid community work, undertake an OHS course at his own expense, and pay $1200 in costs to WorkSafe.
The maximum penalty was $25,780.
Ward was ushered out of the courthouse through a back entrance used for prisoners. Police said they wanted to save him the embarrassment of facing waiting media.
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