12:54 pm, Thursday 30 November, 2006

Article from: AAP

A MELBOURNE company has been charged over the death of a 26-year-old man who was electrocuted while changing a light bulb.

The employee of Camden Neon Pty Ltd was changing light bulbs in a display at a car yard in Coburg on April 18 when he was electrocuted.

A WorkSafe investigation found the man was working on an elevated platformand changing the globe while the power was still on.

A WorkSafe spokesman said Camden Neon had been charged under sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Act requiring a safe working environmentand the provision of training or supervision to help employees work safely.

The maximum penalty is a fine of more than $900,000.

A hearing is scheduled for Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on December 15.

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09:02 pm, Wednesday 29 November, 2006

Victoria’s peak workplace safety body has called for greater vigilance on the job after two workplace deaths in a week.

A man hit by a 300kg steel tube which fell from a crane he was operating, later died in hospital.

WorkSafe was investigating the accident at a roller door manufacturer in Canterbury Road, Kilsyth, in Melbourne’s outer east about 3.20pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old died at Maroondah Hospital a short time later.

There were no witnesses to the incident.

His death was the 24th work-related death reported to WorkSafe this year and the third this month.

Earlier this week a man died when his tractor rolled on a property at Timbarra in East Gippsland.

On November 14 a man died at Bendigo, in central Victoria, when he was run over by a truck he had just parked.

WorkSafe’s executive director John Merritt said business operators and workers needed to be more vigilant.

“We’ve had 24 deaths this year and many serious incidents which have left people with serious, often permanent, injuries,” Mr Merritt said.

“Workplace safety is a shared responsibility which must incorporate regular risk assessments, appropriate training and supervision, workplace design and constant vigilance.

“Workers and employers have to look out for each other’s interests and not rely on `good luck’ or experience to get you through.”

Mr Merritt said 122 work-related deaths had been reported to WorkSafe since the start of 2002.

The cost of compensating and rehabilitating more than 158,000 Victorians injured at work in the past five years exceeded $5 billion, he said.

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06:16 pm, Wednesday 29 November, 2006

Article from: AAP

A CROSS-dressing armed robber embarked on his life of crime to pay for heroin to dull the pain of a workplace accident, a court heard today.

Former Country Road fabric cutter, Olavo Puc, 44, had a successful career and a stable marriage before a 100 kilogram roll of paper fell on him at work in 1997,

The accident injured his spine, left him in chronic pain and depressed, today’s Victorian County Court pre-sentencing hearing was told.

The father-of-two, originally from East Timor, pleaded guilty today to two charges of armed robbery.
He was recently found guilty of six other armed robberies and one robbery.

The court heard Puc dressed as a woman on two occasions in November last year and robbed the Hoppers Crossing Club near his home in Melbourne’s west, using a tree branch in a sock to give the impression he had a gun.

He stole several thousand dollars at a time, using notes to tell attendants he would kill them.

Puc’s lawyer, Nola Karapanagiotidis, said her client had been smoking $50 worth of heroin a day, after other pain treatments failed.

“Up until 1997 he had everything, he was working, he was providing, he certainly had meaning, he’d not touched drugs or alcohol,” Ms Karapanagiotidis said.

She said Puc had won an award for his work at Country Road, where he began his apprenticeship in women’s apparel.

Judge Anthony Duckett said Puc’s drug habit did not excuse his offending and people were often injured at work.

“It’s very unusual to find such serious injuries cause someone to become a heroin addict,” Judge Duckett said.

“The great majority of the community doesn’t resort to heroin, they take whatever legal options are available and put up with the pain,” he said.

Prosecutor Robert Barry said Puc’s robberies were premeditated and at the serious end of the scale.

He also questioned the significance of Puc’s injury by the time his crimes started in November 2004.

Ms Karapanagiotidis said her client, who is in custody, suffered fluctuating bouts of pain and depression.

Puc left East Timor aged 12 when war broke out in 1975, she said.

He had travelled from his village to school in Dili but his bus never returned to take him home.

Soldiers in Dili put Puc in a sack and threw him on to a small boat and he ended up in Darwin, Ms Karapanagiotidis said.

Ms Karapanagiotidis told the court she did not know whether the soldiers were Australian but the government helped Puc establish himself in Melbourne.

Judge Duckett reserved his sentence.

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04:58 pm, Tuesday 28 November, 2006

Article from: AAP

THE construction industry in Victoria has launched a support program to combat the high rate of suicide among young male building workers in drought-stricken rural areas.

Launched in Bendigo today by Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victorian secretary Martin Kingham, the Life Care support scheme will provide apprentices and young workers with mental health support services and suicide prevention advice.

Life Care counsellor Troy Matisons said the drought had contributed to everyday pressures on young workers.

“In rural Victoria, the continual shared worry that family, friend and the community are struggling creates a ripple of pain,” Mr Matisons said.

He said the drought contributed to financial and relationship difficulties, drug and alcohol use, low self-esteem and poor diet, that could lead to stress, anxiety and depression.

Quoting 2004 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Mr Matisons said Australian men were four times more likely than women to die from suicide, and being young and living in a rural area increased the risk factor further.

Mr Kingham said there was also a high rate of suicide among construction workers because of the precarious nature of the industry.

“People think building workers are bulletproof,” Mr Kingham said.

“Our members are susceptible to depression and suicide because the industry is up and down.

Workers can go through periods of earning high pay to nothing at all when there is no work around.”

Life Care is the brainchild of the CFMEU and construction industry redundancy fund, Incolink, with start-up funding of $200,000 from the construction industry superannuation fund, Cbus.

Cbus national operations manager Peter Gebert claimed that out of 450,000 Cbus members across Australia, anecdotal evidence suggested up to two members committed suicide every week.

“We want to get the message across to young members that it’s OK to seek help and help your mates if they need help,” Mr Gebert said.

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02:43 pm, Thursday 23 November, 2006

Article from: Adelaide Now OHS

A MEAGRE $43,400 in fines has been dished out to three companies for unsafe workplaces which caused “permanent and debilitating” injuries to workers.

SafeWork SA prosecuted the firms over unsafe work systems in the Industrial Relations Court.
Independent MLC Nick Xenophon, who has introduced a bill for tougher penalties to Parliament, said the recent convictions were “woefully inadequate”.

“This is just it makes a mockery of the State Government’s law and order chest-beating,” Mr Xenophon said yesterday.

SafeWork SA executive director Michele Patterson conceded the cases “highlight a number of ongoing problems we find in advancing workplace safety”.

“All too frequently, not enough thought is given to identifying hazards and assessing risks with machine and work processes,” Ms Patterson said.

All three firms pleaded guilty in failing to ensure employee safety:

MANUELE ENGINEERS was convicted and fined $15,000 for a accident in May 2004, where a 35-year-old suffered “permanent and debilitating” leg injuries when a steel beam fell on him as he was moving it with a crane.

AMCOR PACKAGING was convicted and fined $14,000 for an accident in July 2004, where a 27-year-old man, just four months into the job, had three fingers on his right hand crushed in a packaging machine.

ADELAIDE BAG AND PACKAGING was convicted and fined $14,400 for an accident in September 2004, where a 42-year-old man, six months on the job, had a finger crushed and later amputated when caught in the exposed rollers of a paper-bag making machine.

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12:00 am, Thursday 23 November, 2006

SafeworkSA says three South Australian businesses have been fined a total of $43,000 after being prosecuted for unsafe working conditions.

Manuele Engineers was fined $15,000 in the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) over an incident in May 2004 when a steel beam fell on a man, causing permanent leg injuries.

Amcor Packaging was fined $14,000 after a 27-year-old employee had three fingers crushed in a machine in July 2004.

SafeWorkSA says Adelaide Bag and Packaging was fined about $14,000 for an incident in September 2004 when a employee had a finger crushed in machinery, which was later amputated.

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06:29 pm, Wednesday 22 November, 2006

Article from: AAP OHS News

MINING giant Rio Tinto Coal Australia has sacked almost two dozen employees as part of a massive crackdown on sexually explicit emails.

The company ordered a purge of emails and computer files after a NSW employee used his mobile phone to take a pornographic image of himself at work, which he then saved on his computer at the Bengalla mine, in the Upper Hunter Valley, north-west of Newcastle.

As a result of the purge, at least 21 workers at three Queensland sites were fired without warning last week for possessing sexually explicit images on their computers.

Up to 17 workers from Kestrel, near Emerald, four at Blair Athol, near Clermont, and others at Tarong, near Kingaroy, were sacked.

Those dismissed included mining and administrative staff.

Several NSW employees also were sacked.

Some of the workers axed at Bengalla were incredulous that they had lost their jobs over images they claimed were no worse than those displayed in newsagency windows.

A Rio Tinto spokeswoman said company policy required all employees to use work computers and email systems responsibly, and that downloading or storing explicit images breached this policy.

“Accessing, downloading or disseminating material which is offensive, sexually explicit, defamatory, discriminatory or otherwise abusive, harassing or violent is regarded as a serious breach of this policy,” she said today.

She said all employees were made aware of these rules when they began working for the company, and that they were warned they could face disciplinary proceedings or lose their jobs if they broke the rules.

“As a result of some serious breaches of the policy, we have acted according to our disciplinary procedure,” she said.

Rio Tinto denied any of the images involved children. The spokeswoman said no complaints had been made to police.

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12:00 pm, Wednesday 22 November, 2006

Article from:AAP

REDFERN Oval’s $19 million redevelopment was stopped yesterday afterasbestos was found on the site, sparking fears for nearby residents’ safety.

Excavation work on the eastern hill was abandoned about 8am when a team of Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union officials uncovered more than 40 pieces of asbestos.

The suspension of work was a major blow for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, who are preparing to return their training headquarters to Redfern.

CFMEU assistant secretary Brian Parker said the asbestos was located adjacent to Redfern Park – a popular recreation spot for local families.

With excavation having started at the weekend, it is feared particles may have been airborne for three days.

“It’s a real worry for local residents as well as workers because it only takes one airborne particle to exceed dangerous levels,” Mr Parker said.

“The largest piece we found was the size of two hands.

“None of the soil had been dampened, meaning it could have become airborne.”

The works are part of Sydney City Council’s plans to turn the dilapidated site into a cutting-edge training base for the Rabbitohs.

Featuring a new grandstand, gym, video rooms and retractable fencing, the redevelopment is scheduled to be completed by early 2008.

As work restarted on the grandstand late yesterday, Souths executive chairman Peter Holmes a Court insisted the deadline would still be met.

“The demolition of the grandstand is still going on, so it’s not right to say all work has been stopped,” he said.

“This is not a major delay. We expected delays and we are sure it will be completed for a return to training in March 2008.”

But Mr Parker said excavation would be halted until an independent hygienist cleared the site.

“We’ve found over 40 pieces of asbestos in a small section of the ground so it’s a fair bet there’s a lot more on the site,” Mr Parker said.

WorkCover inspectors visited the site yesterday and were last night preparing to issue the contractor with a warning notice of proper procedure.

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11:52 am, Wednesday 22 November, 2006

PART of a man’s foot was severed when a ride-on mower flipped and landed on him at a Melbourne golf course today.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman Christine Paterson said the ride-on mower flipped about 10am (AEDT) at the Heritage Golf Club in Chirnside Park, landing on the driver, a man in his 20s.

She said the injuries to his foot and leg included the partial severing of his left foot.

He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

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11:42 am, Wednesday 22 November, 2006

AAP OH&S News

A MAN in his 20s was burnt on his face and hands when a container of live ammunition exploded at a factory in Melbourne.

The explosion happened just before 9am (AEDT) at a factory that recycles old army ammunition at Wickham Road, Moorabbin, in Melbourne’s south-east, Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman Christine Paterson said.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade communications controller Heather Stockton said it was believed live ammunition in one of the containers being recycled discharged.

He man was taken to The Alfred hospital with 10 per cent burns to his hands and face, Ms Paterson said.

His burns were described as “partial thickness” and not severe.

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