Once again, the idea that company bosses also surf the Web seems to have escaped an employee who posted a stupid stunt on the Internet.
Matthew Ward is out of a job. Not only did he perform unsafe stunts on a forklift at work, he taped and posted them on YouTube.
Ward worked for a pipe manufacturer near Melbourne, Australia. One day he set up his video camera at work and taped stunts he performed on a forklift, including wheelies, burnouts and a crash into a stack of pipes.
Sure, lots of people would probably take a few minutes to watch a video on the Web of someone popping wheelies on a forklift — including Ward’s bosses.
The company turned him over to police and fired him.
His case went to court where he pleaded guilty to one count of failing to take care of his own health and safety.
Now he has to pay a fine (about $800 U.S. dollars), perform 50 hours community service and take an occupational safety course.
He’s also lost his license to drive a forklift.
Regular readers of Blunders know that we like to provide links to interesting stuff on the Web. Sorry — Ward’s YouTube video has been pulled.
