Laurie Egan was walking down the designated pedestrian pathway in Specialized Container Transport's rail shed at Forrestfield when he was hit by a reversing fork-lift.

The machine knocked him over and ran over his legs crushing one of them. When Laurie screamed out to get the machine off him, the forklift driver panicked, put the vehicle in reverse and backed out over the already crushed leg.

The pain was excruciating but Laurie didn't black out. An ambulance was called and he was rushed into Royal Perth Hopsital with all sirens blazing.

The accident has had a huge negative impact on the couple's life and it will take a long time for things to come good again.

"But we will get through this, and it could have been much worse," said Carolyn. "I could have been standing looking at a plaque at the Pinaroo Cemetery," she said philosophically. That's a good way to sees things but reality bites and tough times lie ahead for the couple.

Under the WA workers compensation system workers are paid their average wage - including overtime - for the first 13 weeks only after the injured person goes on compo. After that, they must make do on the basic weekly wage - without overtime or shift penalties. This often mean a significant reduction in income and financial hardship.

The TWU has set up a meeting for Laurie with our solicitors Slater & Gordon.We believe Laurie must explore the possibility of taking a common law case against the company for negligence.

We think the area Laurie was working in was hazardous and a threat to safety. The shed is very busy on occasions and with pallets stacked up to five-high along the walkway, visibility was very poor at the time. The area can also be noisy and we have found it difficult to hear reversing beepers on forklifts.

SCT disagree with us and say they have had Worksafe audits which have given them the thumbs up. However, it is only since Laurie's accident that the height of pallet
Pity the practice wasn't addressed before Laurie had his legs run over.

The TWU makes no excuses for taking a hard line on this issue. Forklifts kill and maim lots of people in Australia and those people are often our members.