Handbag Imported Fined $70,000 for Injury to Temp Worker

At the warehouse of a handbag importer, a temporary worker was offloading pallets from a truck and placing them along the edge of a racking system. On the other side of the system, another worker was using a forklift to put pallets full of goods on the shelves. As the second worker was removing a previously placed pallet from a shelf, it fell off the back of the racking system onto the temp worker. The importer pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the pallet was removed from the storage rack in a way that didn’t endanger a worker. The court fined it $70,000 [Honta Trading International Inc., Govt. News Release, March 6, 2013].