Read a dramatized account of a real case in which a court found an employer and supervisor guilty of negligence for failure to provide OSHA-required training.
A new employee—we’ll call him Steve—had no experience or prior training operating a forklift. Nevertheless, on his first day in a new job, he was assigned to drive a forklift.
“There’s nothing to it,” his supervisor told Steve. “It’s just like driving a car.”
“OK,” Steve agreed, “I guess I can handle it.”
But Steve’s first few weeks on the job turned out to be kind of bumpy. Several times on each shift while driving the forklift he would bump into pallets and knock things over.
The supervisor witnessed a few of these incidents and warned Steve to be more careful. But Steve continued to bump his way through the workday, leaving a trail of destruction wherever he went.
One day about 3 weeks after being hired, the supervisor instructed Steve to drive down a narrow aisle between two rows of stacked, loaded pallets.
“Gee, boss,” said Steve dubiously, “I don’t know if I can fit through there.”
“Sure you can,” said the supervisor. “Now get a move on.”
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The Accident
As Steve reluctantly proceeded down the aisle, his left foot, which was dangling outside the forklift where it shouldn’t have been, became pinned between the forklift and the wall of pallets. He suffered multiple fractures of the foot, and his knee was badly twisted as well. Both injuries required surgery.
When Steve got out of the hospital, instead of going back to work, he went to court and sued his employer and his supervisor for negligence.
His argument was simple: The company and the supervisor failed to provide safety training that could have prevented the accident.
Steve’s lawyer told the court that OSHA regulations mandated specific training, testing, and certification for forklift operators. Steve had not been trained, tested, or certified. Therefore, he should not have been operating a forklift. And if he hadn’t been driving the forklift, he wouldn’t have been injured.
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The Decision
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia agreed, saying there was sufficient evidence to prove that both the employer and the supervisor were negligent. They were aware when the employee was hired that federal law required forklift operators to be properly trained and certified. By allowing the employee to operate a forklift without proper training was an act of negligence.
The Message
Failure to provide OSHA-required training is a big mistake. When new employees are hired, or when workers are assigned new jobs with new hazards, make sure they are properly trained from the start. No employee should ever be allowed to operate dangerous equipment or perform any other hazardous job until the required training has been completed and the employee has demonstrated competence as well as understanding of the hazards and necessary precautions.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the flip side, with another court case that had a very different outcome because the employer had a comprehensive and highly effective safety training program, like the one you can have if you use the award-winning Employee Training Center.