Craig Williams, Clark Equipment,  was announced as the winner of the 2026  AFITA H&E Grant Award  for Outstanding Service to the Forklift Industry at the 2026 Annual Dinner and Awards on 21 July 2026.

This award honours an individual or individuals from Australian forklift industry who have made an outstanding contribution to the value, recognition or reputation of the industry.

Presented by the President of the Association Dean Watson, the citation for Craig reads:

Craig Williams served as Chair of the Australian Industrial Truck Association Engineering Committee from 2014 to 2019 when he stepped down to become the Deputy Chair, a position that he has held from 2019 until now.

These roles involve responding to numerous public enquiries regarding the regulation of forklifts; oversight, editing and drafting Engineering Guidance Papers; taking a leading role in organising and presenting at AFITA safety activities including Safety Show presentations, safety podcasts, social media content review,  and technical lead for AFITA safety videos. These are key all facets of the public face of AFITA and therefore of the forklift industry.

The forklift industry has benefited greatly from Craig’s extensive engineering knowledge and his willingness to share this expertise with the industry; his readiness to undertake tasks on behalf of AFITA, and the thoroughness with which he approaches all of the tasks he undertakes.

In addition to his roles with AFITA, Craig is a member of the Australian Standards ME026 Committee, working to develop the Standards that the industry relies on for consistency of the design, construction, maintenance and the safety of the forklifts available in Australia.

AFITA is reliant on the generous sharing of the expertise of its member representatives to fulfill its objectives and benefit the industry, and Craig has been exemplary in this regard. 

Craig Williams embodies the values and spirit that the AFITA Industry Award seeks to acknowledge.