Worker got hit by a forklift moving backwards
A Toronto logistics company has been fined $70,000 after a worker was critically injured in a collision with a reversing forklift at a Brampton warehouse.
National Logistics Services (2006) Inc.—a retail logistics provider for global lifestyle brands— was convicted in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton on Nov. 17, 2025, following a guilty plea under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act, which will be credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
The incident occurred on Aug. 14, 2023, at a facility located at 200 Chrysler Drive in Brampton.
According to the Ontario government, a worker employed by National Logistics Services was preparing to move a pallet of freight into a freight staging area for shipping when the injury occurred. To perform this task, the worker left the freight staging area and entered an area used by pedestrians and mobile handling equipment known as the MHE Pathway.
The Ontario government report notes that “the freight staging area, the shipping staging lanes and the MHE Pathway were marked by yellow lines on the floor.” While the worker was in the MHE Pathway, a forklift operator from a temporary employment agency was reversing a forklift out of a trailer parked at the loading dock.
“The forklift operator did not see the worker. There was a collision between the forklift and the worker, resulting in a critical injury,” the ministry report states.
Worker ‘was not looking backward’
The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said the company failed “to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker,” contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the OHSA. The ministry found the employer did not ensure that material handling equipment and pedestrians were adequately separated by pathways and entry points at the workplace.
A subsequent investigation by the ministry found that National Logistics Services had an unwritten process in place for staging freight into the shipping staging lanes, and that this process was understood by all parties. Investigators also determined that both the injured worker and the forklift operator had received training on the hazards associated with pedestrians working around forklifts.
However, the ministry reported that the forklift operator “was not looking backward while moving in reverse, contrary to the training.”
The investigation concluded that, despite the existence of training and an informal process, the company had not taken a key reasonable precaution: ensuring adequate separation between forklifts and pedestrians through pathways and entry points.
The Ontario government stated that the company “failed to take the reasonable precaution of ensuring that material handling equipment and pedestrians were adequately separated by pathways and entry points, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”
Safe forklift operations
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), no one must ride or operate a forklift truck “except for a trained forklift operator who is able to maintain control of the forklift and operate it smoothly when stopping, starting, lifting and tilting”.
The agency notes that to ensure the safety of others while travelling on a forklift, “know the blind spots of the lift truck with and without a load”.
“When anyone crosses the route being travelled, stop the forklift truck. Lower the load to the floor, and wait until passage is clear,” CCOHS said.
