10:05 am, Wednesday 22 November, 2006

AAP OH&S News

SEVERAL workers were evacuated when fire broke out at a partly demolished factory in Melbourne’s south-east today.

Fourteen fire trucks were sent to the blaze at the factory on the Nepean Highway, Mentone, about 8.20am (AEDT), the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said.

An MFB spokeswoman said firefighters initially had problems getting water to the area because it had been turned off to the factory.

However, it had been brought under control by 9am, she said.

The building is believed to be a former Nylex factory and it was not known exactly how many workers were evacuated or if they were demolishing the building, she said.

A Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman said no ambulances were called to the scene.

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03:09 pm, Tuesday 21 November, 2006

Source AAP OHS News

A 19-year-old man has had both his legs severed in a freak accident while cutting limestone blocks for a wall in Western Australia.

The accident occurred about 6am (WST) on Tuesday, in Bunbury, south of Perth, the WA Royal Flying Doctor Service’s medical director, Stephen Langford, said.

“We were called to retrieve a 19-year-old male from Bunbury this morning,” Dr Langford said.

“We understand that while working on a limestone wall he has amputated both legs.”

A medical team collected the injured man, and his legs, and flew them to Royal Perth Hospital where they arrived about 9am (WST), he said.

The man was in a stable condition and doctors would try to re-attach his legs if possible, Dr Langford said.

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08:59 am, Tuesday 21 November, 2006

Article from: AAP OHS News

A MAN has died in hospital after being run over by a backhoe in Brisbane’s north-western suburbs.

Police said the 61-year-old man was loading the backhoe onto a truck in McGinn Road at Ferny Grove at 4.30pm (AEST) yesterday.

He drove it onto the truck, got out of the cabin and had gone to the back of the trailer to secure it when it rolled down and ran over him.

The backhoe continued across the road, hitting a house and damaging it, but there was no-one home at the time.

The man was taken to the Royal Brisbane Hospital with serious injuries but died at 8.15pm (AEST).

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12:00 am, Tuesday 21 November, 2006

The Age

OHS News

THE dream of retiring at 40 appears to be fading with a report showing the number of older men in the workforce is at its highest level since 1980.

The most dramatic increase in workforce participation is among men between the ages of 60 and 64. But there is also a significant increase in participation of men aged between 55 and 59, according to a chapter in the Treasury Department’s latest quarterly economic roundup.

The desire for a more comfortable retirement, wanting to wait until a spouse stops working and more attractive superannuation arrangements are all tying workers to The Man for longer. But a major factor in the greying male workforce is the improved labour market.

The chapter, by Steven Kennedy and Alicia Da Costa, says older men were disproportionately affected by the recession and structural economic changes of the 1980s and 1990s that swept away “inefficient and protected industries”.

Now, however, unemployment rates among older men are even lower than the general unemployment rate, which is itself at 30-year lows.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said it was the downsizing and industry reform of the 1990s that had forced men to work longer. Men who had been made redundant or forced out of permanent secure work and into casual jobs now “have to work longer to make up the deficit in their retirement income”.

She said older men also stayed in the workforce for longer because of the Howard Government’s failure to invest in skills and training.

The Treasury report says changes that make it tougher to get the disability pension as well as tax and superannuation incentives may have encouraged men and women to work longer.

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12:00 am, Monday 20 November, 2006

Source: AAP OHS News

A FARMER whose hand was trapped in machinery for more than two hours in central west NSW is being treated in hospital for multiple crush injuries.

The 50-year-old was feeding cattle on his property near Collie, about 70km north-west of Dubbo, when his right hand became stuck about 8am (AEDT) today.

A NRMA CareFlight spokesman said the man was airlifted to Dubbo Base Hospital with multiple crush injuries after he was freed about two hours later.

He was in a stable condition when he arrived at the hospital, the spokesman said.

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12:00 am, Sunday 19 November, 2006

FOUR people have been taken to hospital after falling from a shop awning in Sydney’s south, apparently while hanging Christmas decorations.

NSW Police said the four plunged from the shop in Gymea Bay Road, Gymea, when the awning collapsed about 10.20am (AEDT) today.

They were taken to St George and Sutherland hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

A police spokeswoman could not confirm the gender of the people involved or whether their injuries were serious.

One theory is that they were trying to hang Christmas decorations when the awning collapsed. NSW Police and WorkCover NSW are investigating what happened.

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12:00 am, Friday 17 November, 2006

Several hundred harvesters in New South Wales might have to be fitted with a safety device after the settlement of a high profile court case.

WorkCover is withdrawing its prosecution of machinery manufacturer CNH Australia and a New South Wales dealer over a 2003 farm accident, where a worker lost his leg while trying to clear a blockage in a combine harvester.

CNH Australia’s Stuart Redman says the company has agreed to design, test and fit a device to make the particular model of header safer.

“It’s probably going to be like an interlock device on the ladder accessing the top of the combine and once the farmer pulls down the ladder then it will cut off the machine. It’s still very much in design and test phase at this stage but that’s what we will be looking at,” Mr Redman said.

The agreement only applies to the case IH 2388 header in use in New South Wales.

The Tractor and Machinery Association has welcomed news the case is being withdrawn, saying a prosecution could have had implications for the sale of all second hand machinery.

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07:42 pm, Tuesday 14 November, 2006

Article from: AAP

Worksafe Victoria has issued a warning to builders, developers and construction site workers about the gale-force winds forecast for tomorrow.

Worksafe’s construction and utilities division director Geoff Thomas said incomplete buildings were at risk of collapse, while flying debris also posed a risk to workers, neighbouring properties and passers-by.

“A gale warning has been forecast for coastal areas and strong winds inland,” Mr Thomas said today.

“Builders and developers must ensure uncompleted buildings and structures are well supported.”

Mr Thomas said incomplete walls should be braced, while roofing and other building material that could be picked up by the wind should also be secured.

He said there had been several collapses in the past year as a result of incomplete buildings not being properly secured when strong winds hit.

“The risk is not just to the workforce, but passers-by, neighbouring premises and emergency service workers who may be called if there is an incident,” Mr Thomas said.

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07:41 pm, Tuesday 14 November, 2006

Article from: AAP OH&S News

A MAN has been crushed to death between two trucks in a workplace accident in Victoria’s north.

Police and officials from Worksafe Victoria were at Crystal Ice and Cool Stores, in Garsed Street, Bendigo after the incident about 4.30pm (AEDT) today.

“A man has been crushed between two trucks,” Worksafe’s construction and utilities division director Geoff Thomas said.

He said a police investigation was under way but it appeared one truck hit the man, which wedged him against another truck that was reversing nearby.

“He was in between the front of a truck that was being backed into a loading dock, and another one that was outside waiting to come in,” Mr Thomas said.

“He has been hit by the second truck.”

Mr Thomas said there were no witnesses to the incident and the man, who was aged in his 50s and lived in the Bendigo area, was found by a workmate.

“The ambulance was called but it was unable to help,” he said.

Mr Thomas said it took the number of traumatic work-related deaths in Victoria this year to 22, and he issued this reminder.

“Always be aware of the circumstances you are working in,” he said.

“And for employers and workers to constantly keep a close eye on known and potential hazards in their industry.”

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01:48 pm, Monday 13 November, 2006

Article from: AAP

A CORONER has recommended WorkCover regulate the recreational diving industry after a Sydney police officer drowned while diving with colleagues.

NSW police sergeant Edward Van Putten died after he ran out of air during a recreational dive with six other police officers at Colours Reef, near Watsons Bay, on December 13, 2004.

An inquest into his death found the 53-year-old was a relatively inexperienced diver.

Sgt Van Putten was a very large man and his air consumption was at least twice that of the average diver, Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch said in her findings, handed down in Glebe Coroners Court today.

Sgt Van Putten’s air consumption was described as “enormous” and placed him in a special needs category, Ms Pinch said.

On the day of the dive, he had borrowed an air cylinder with a capacity of 80 cubic feet from another diver, despite previously being advised he needed an air tank with 120 cubic feet capacity, she said.

“If Mr Van Putten had appreciated the safety implications of his excessive air consumption … then he ought to have raised the issue at the earliest opportunity, ie when arranging to borrow the air cylinder,” Ms Pinch said.

She recommended the NSW Government take over regulation of the diving industry, citing WorkCover as the appropriate authority.

While there was a code of practice in place to guide the industry, there was no obligation to comply with the provisions and they were not enforceable, Ms Pinch said.

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