Stupid: Performing stunts on a forklift. Really stupid: Recording the stunts and posting them on the Web.
But that’s exactly what Australian forklift driver Matthew Ward did.
Ward set up a video camera at work to record his exploits, which included some wheelies, burnouts and crashing into a stack of concrete pipes.
He must’ve been proud of his forklift maneuvers because he posted them on YouTube.
Word spread, and his employer, a Melbourne-area company that makes pipes, turned him over to police and fired him.
A court has fined him the equivalent of about U.S. $800. He lost his license to drive forklifts.
He pleaded guilty to a single count of failing to take care of his own health and safety. He also has to take a week-long occupational safety course and perform 50 hours of community service.
Oh, and his YouTube video? It’s been pulled
If a similar incident happened in the U.S., an employer could go after him for damage to the pipes he drove into. But the possibility of fining a worker for such safety infractions and requiring him to attend safety courses doesn’t exist in the U.S.
Do you think it should? Let us know in the Comments Box below.