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OHS News - April 2007

Beaconsfield Mine In The Clear – No Charges Laid

02:49 pm, Monday 23 April, 2007

Source:AAP

There were still lessons to be learned following the Beaconsfield mine collapse despite a decision not to lay charges over the disaster, union heavyweight Bill Shorten says.

Miner Larry Knight died in the rock fall on April 25, 2006, while fellow miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell were trapped underground in the northern Tasmanian mine for 14 nights.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the office was not about to lay charges over the Beaconsfield gold mine rockfall last Anzac Day.

The office said it did not have enough information from an independent investigation into the incident to determine if there had been a breach of Workplace Health and Safety laws.

However, it said charges could be laid at a later date if more information came to light as a result of the state-commissioned investigation by lawyer Greg Melick.

But Mr Shorten, the Australian Workers’ Union national secretary, and who remained at the mine throughout the two-week rescue drama, said there was a breakdown in communications at the mine before its collapse.

“We have not seen the evidence that the DPP has, and will certainly not second-guess its decision, which was based on the diligent investigation of Mr Greg Melick,” Mr Shorten said in a statement.

“But it is important to point out, however, that the fact that charges have not been laid does not mean lessons do not need to be learned.

“The AWU believes that there was poor communication at the mine prior to the rock fall, and we know that mining methods have changed since Anzac Day last year.

“There is very rarely a ‘smoking gun’, which could lead directly to charges in occupational health and safety incidents, but that should not take away from the fact that there are issues that need to be carefully studied and remedied in this case.”

The mine’s new management was committed to safety, Mr Shorten said.

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Charges Laid Over Gate Death

12:00 am, Friday 20 April, 2007

Source: Sunshine Coast Daily

LEGAL proceedings began yesterday against three companies linked to the death of a Nambour Plaza cleaner in 2005.

Kathryn Jones – a 45-year-old mother of three – died instantly when a 900kg gate she had just opened came off its rollers and fell on her early on the morning of December 10, 2005.

After an inquest into her death in December last year, a Maroochydore coroner found that a small piece of metal and a set of guide rollers could have prevented her death.

Workplace Health and Safety lodged a complaint and summons against three companies immediately after the findings were handed out.
It began prosecution of Macquarie Assets Services Limited, the owners of Nambour Plaza, Savills (Qld) Pty Ltd, the company in charge of centre management and KMB Investments, which trades as Imperial Protection Services, in the Nambour Industrial Magistrates Court yesterday.

No pleas were entered at the mention appearance.

The case was adjourned to the Maroochydore Magistrates Court in June.

After hearing two days of witness and expert testimony, Magistrate Tom Killeen’s report found 13 different events contributed to the eastern gate falling on that fateful day.

He found it could have been prevented if the design of the gate included a “suitable stop” on the overhead truss.

He said the stop would have stopped the gate from travelling past its middle point and guide rollers on the top rail of the gate, and helped hold it in place.

Mr Killeen also found a security officer, who forcefully closed the gate the night before the accident, failed to test that the gates were working safely, or place any warnings.

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WorkSafe Response On Bullying Report

12:00 am, Thursday 19 April, 2007

Source: Worksafe Victoria

WorkSafe is pleased, but not surprised, that the Ombudsman has cleared the organisation of allegations of improper conduct in relation to its handling of bullying claims at the Police Association.

The Ombudsman’s report was tabled in Parliament yesterday. WorkSafe supports the report’s three recommendations.In essence, the Ombudsman’s report concluded that while existing policies and procedures for handling the bullying allegations

were followed, they should be reviewed.WorkSafe is committed to completing the review recommended by the Ombudsman as soon as possible.WorkSafe is pleased that the recommendation to conduct a formal investigation was implemented

approximately six weeks ago (early March) under established policies and procedures and independent of the Ombudsman’s inquiry process.A person alleging bullying was interviewed and the investigation remains open pending the receipt of more

specific information which will help take the matter forward.

The other recommendation relating to WorkSafe in the report relates to file noting and minuting of meetings.During the Ombudsman’s inquiry WorkSafe highlighted the fraught and complex nature of dealing with bullying allegations given the stark

differences in the nature of evidence usually available compared with safety failures where an injury is more apparent. There is a heavy reliance in bullying cases on alleged victims providing evidence that can be tested if a charge is to be

sustained.WorkSafe defines workplace bullying as repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed to an employee or group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety.Because of the serious long-term health effects of bullying and its effects on

co-workers and the overall business, a ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach is essential.A detailed practical guide ‘Prevention of bullying & violence at work’ is available online atwww.worksafe.vic.gov.au or in hard copy.

More than 100,000 copies have been distributed since it was released on 2003.WorkSafe prosecuted Australia’s first two cases of workplace bullying in 2004.More information on bullying and occupational violence can be found

here.http://www.workcover.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/WorkSafe/Home/Safety+and+Prevention/Health+And+Safety+Topics/Bullying+and+Occupational+Violence/?&a=Bullying%20and%20Occupational%20Violence&p=Popular

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Safety Rules Stretched To Save Miners

01:37 am, Monday 16 April, 2007

Source: AAP

KEY members of the rescue team that worked to free the men trapped when the Beaconsfield mine collapsed have revealed the emotion that drove their efforts and their unusual methods used to bend the rules to save their mates.

In tonight’s Australian Story program, some members of the rescue team, including the men who first discovered Todd Russell and Brant Webb were alive, speak publicly for the first time about the dramas that unfolded at Beaconsfield, near Launceston in Tasmania.

The mine manager Mathew Gill, also speaks about the emotional toll the rescue took on him.

One member, rescue coordinator Patrick Ball, said one of the main difficulties they were presented with was complying with safety laws while doing all they could to free the two men after a rock fall in the mine on April 25 last year.

Mr Ball admits that during the two-week rescue he would often “tell people not to do things and hoping like hell they ignored me”.

“There was a certain amount of information that we needed which could only be got by people going in and doing, well, dangerous things,” Mr Ball told the ABC program.

“We had to find a way of getting information across to the mines inspector without the person that had gone in there admitting they’d broken the law by risking their own lives.”

Mr Ball said they worked around it by using what became known as “Rex’s Dreams”, named after the mine’s safety officer Rex Johnson.

“We simply went up to the mines inspector and said “Fred, I had a dream last night that you won’t believe, I dreamed that I went to the 925, I climbed up the rock fall, I went down a small hole’,” Mr Ball said.

“There was no crime there, there’s just a man just telling me about a dream.”

Mr Ball has also recalled the moment when they heard the two men’s voices.

“I wish I could tell you my feelings,” he said.

“I can remember the size of them but I can’t describe what the feelings were. It was just like a big freight train of adrenalin had just hit you smack in the back of the head.”

Mr Gill, who has now resigned as mine manager, said he is also surprised there has been no anger directed at him from Mr Russell and Mr Webb.

He feared they might have held him somehow responsible for the accident.

“Todd and Brant have been back to site quite a few times, they have come into my office and had a chat.

“I’ve never detected any animosity or anger and I guess that surprised me.

“I guessed there might be that natural human reaction.”

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Work Sausage Sizzle Burns Employee

01:33 pm, Saturday 14 April, 2007

AAP

A Melbourne radio station worker has been taken to hospital with burns after a can of cooking oil ignited during a promotional barbecue outside a shopping centre.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said the accident happened about 11.45am (AEST) on Saturday outside the Braybrook shopping centre, in Ashley Street, Braybrook, in Melbourne’s west.

The woman was cooking food on a barbecue on a trailer when a can of cooking oil placed beside the trailer heated up and ignited, a MFB spokesman said.

The woman, who suffered superficial burns, was treated by paramedics before being taken to the Western Hospital.

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“The barbecue trailer was being used for a promotional sausage sizzle and was from radio station Gold 104.3 FM,” the spokesman said.

WorkCover investigators have begun an investigation into the accident.

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Fears Silo Could Blow Town Away

08:58 pm, Friday 13 April, 2007

AAP

ABOUT 1500 residents from the southern New South Wales town of Temora have been evacuated amid fears a silo could explode.

The New South Wales Fire Brigade was called to the town around 1.30pm (AEST) today after the temperature in one of the silos started to escalate.

The fire brigade established an 800m exclusion zone around the 200-tonne silo, after the canola inside it heated to about 90 degrees.

“There’s 170 tonnes approximately of canola in the silo, which for some reason unknown to anyone at the scene, started to spontaneously heat,” Superintendent Tom Cooper said.

“Someone rang triple-0 to report that it had reached a temperature of about 90 degrees.”

The fire brigade set up ground monitors and pumped water through them to cool the silo, which is in a compound with 26 other silos.

The silo’s vents have also been opened to reduce the risk of explosion.

About 1500 residents were evacuated and taken to Temora town hall as a precaution, Supt Cooper said.

“It’s not uncommon for a silo to get hot,” he said.

“There are fire crews in breathing apparatus there at the moment monitoring what is coming out of the silo to ascertain whether it is explosive and how safe it is.”

A Hazmat vehicle is also at the scene and the Hazmat commander and scientific officer are being flown from Sydney to assess the situation.

In January, about 1500 residents of the southern NSW town of Cootamundra were evacuated from their homes for two days because of fears a massive grain silo could explode.

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Forklift Accident Critically Injures Man

12:47 pm, Friday 13 April, 2007

NSW Police

Police are investigating an overnight industrial accident in Broken Hill, in the NSW ’s far west, which has left a man critically injured.

About 3am today, a colleague located the 56-year-old man impaled by a forklift tyne and pinned against a heavy vehicle trailer.

Police from the Barrier Local Area Command, as well as ambulance officers, attended the scene.

The man was taken by ambulance to Broken Hill Base Hospital suffering extensive internal injuries. He is understood to be in a critical but stable condition.

Meanwhile, a crime scene has been established at the premises and will undergo examination by Broken Hill detectives and officers from the Forensic Services Group.

Inquiries are underway to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

WorkCover has been notified and will also be investigating the incident.

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Out Of Control Truck Hits 17 Cars

11:34 pm, Thursday 12 April, 2007

The Advertiser

AN out-of-control truck ploughed into 17 cars on Main South Rd in Adelaide this afternoon.

Fourteen people were taken to Flinders Medical Centre.

All of the injured were reported to be in a satisfactory condition and police said none suffered serious injury.

The truck appeared to have lost its air brakes as it travelled north towards the city before veering into the two right-hand lanes of traffic on Main North Rd and clipping cars.

It then hit a traffic light and two street lights as it jack-knifed across an intersection and damaged seven caravans in a business on the corner.

A four-wheel-drive was badly damaged , showering its occupants with glass.

One girl was taken to hospital, while several of the others suffered minor cuts.

The driver of one of the most seriously damaged cars, a Mercedes, said “when I got out of the car it was just absolute devastation”.

Witnesses said the truck driver got out of the passenger side and collapsed on the road. He was not seriously injured.

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Northern Territory Worksafe Prosecute Over Welders Death

07:33 pm, Thursday 12 April, 2007

ABC

Three companies have been charged with breaching their duty of care following the electrocution death of a worker on Darwin’s Waterfront development.

Twenty-three-year-old welder Cameron Bradley died in February last year when he was working on a pontoon near East Arm Wharf.

The three Contractors have been summonsed to appear in the Darwin Magistrates Court on charges of breaching Section 29 of the Work Health Act.

They face a maximum penalty of $125,000 each.

NT Worksafe spokesman John Hassed says the detailed investigation meant it took a long time for charges to be laid.

“The charges predominantly are under section 29 of the Work Health Act, and allege a failure to provide a safe workplace and that the health and safety of a worker was adversely affected by the work being undertaken,” he said.

Electrical Trades Union spokesman Alan Paton says unions will campaign for construction companies to submit site safety plans to NT Worksafe before they start any building work in the Territory.

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Charges Over Beconsfiled Known Soon

08:16 am, Thursday 12 April, 2007

Source: The Boarder Mail

A DECISION on whether the Beaconsfield gold mine operators will face charges after the Anzac Day rock fall last year is expected to be made within two weeks.

Under the Workplace Health and Safety Act, authorities only have 12 months to lay charges from the time inspectors notice a possible breach — the day of the accident on April 25.

Miner Larry Knight died in the rock fall, which trapped his workmates Brant Webb and Todd Russell underground at the northern Tasmanian mine for 14 nights.

Tasmania Director of Public Prosecutions Tim Ellis is working from the time of the accident, a spokeswoman from his office confirmed yesterday.

“We have got to make a decision within the next two weeks,” she said.

The State Government has commissioned lawyer Greg Mellick to submit an independent report into the tragedy, which has been pushed back to May because of complicated geo-technical information.

The spokeswoman for Mr Ellis said the DPP was still liaising with Mr Mellick.

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