12:47 pm, Wednesday 25 June, 2008

Source: The Gympie Times

A young male driver embroiled in a hit-and-run scenario took a month to confess his part in the Glastonbury crash to escape punishment for unlawfully driving a work car.

A maxi taxi driver was picking up passengers on the corner of Stockden and Glastonbury roads in the early hours of April 27 when the driver of a late model white Commodore tried to overtake on double lines.

The front of the taxi was crushed in the impact, but no one was injured.

Glastonbury Creek Road resident Joshua Brian Heck then continued driving for 200 metres before he stopped and decamped from the scene on foot.

The young driver appeared in Gympie Magistrates Court this week charged with driving without due care and attention. Police Prosecutor Senior Constable Lisa Manns said the taxi driver had claimed the car travelling behind had tried to overtake at high speed.

Snr Const Manns said passengers waiting for the taxi witnessed Heck return to the car then flee, 10 minutes after running on foot from the crash.

The court heard Heck visited Gympie police station on May 27 and made admissions to his part in the crash.

The 18-year-old agricultural business worker told police he had been driving a work car without permission on the April morning, and to avoid detection had told his employer he crashed the car during work hours.

Heck also admitted to having a few drinks prior to driving about 4am that morning, and did not know if he was over the legal limit.

Defence lawyer Chris Anderson said Heck had lost his job shortly after the crash took place.

Mr Anderson said the defendant advised him that speed was not an issue in the lead-up to the crash.

“In addition, my client has since written a letter of apology to the taxi owner,” Mr Anderson said.

Magistrate Tom Killeen said the defendant had displayed a serious breach of road rules.

“You deliberately decamped knowing damage had been caused, and made up stories to avoid responsibility of driving,” Mr Killeen said.

Heck was fined $750 and lost his licence for three months.

OHS News Tip: Vehicle Accident Work Method Statement

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12:14 pm, Wednesday 25 June, 2008

Source: White Horse Leader

A warehouseman fell to his death while carrying out a stock-check in Nunawading.

Colleagues of the 60-year-old Blackburn South resident tried desperately to revive him before he was rushed to hospital.

He died last Wednesday, more than two weeks after the June 3 fall.

A WorkSafe investigation has started at the manufacturing business on Norcal Rd where he worked. No further details have been released at this stage.

In a separate incident a second tradesman, a 62-year-old Preston painter, died the following day after falling through a ceiling in Templestowe.

The incidents came in the same week that a Whitehorse company was prosecuted for failing to provide appropriate scaffolding at a home renovation project where a 65-year-old plasterer died.

Forest Hill firm McCutcheon Builders Pty Ltd was fined $15,000 after Alberto Capretta fell backwards to the ground from a plank 2.4m above the floor.

An autopsy showed Mr Capretta suffered a stroke, which caused him to fall and fracture his skull.

Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was told McCutcheon Builders, as the principal contractor on the site, should not have allowed the plasterer, a sub-contractor, to work on an incomplete scaffold.

Fall protection should be provided when someone is working at a height above 2m, the court heard, and the trestle scaffold provided was marked “planks must not be used above two metres”.

The director of the company, Maurice McCutcheon, also pleaded guilty to one charge under health and safety laws and was fined $2000.

The company declined to comment or offer mitigation when approached by the Leader this week.

The director of WorkSafe’s construction and utilities program, Chris Webb, said the construction industry still had much to learn.

OHS News Tip: Safety Harness Work Method Statement

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11:28 am, Wednesday 25 June, 2008

Source: The Australian

A man has suffered facial burns in an explosion at an engineering business in Brisbane.

A gas cylinder blew up at the business in Gosport Street at Hemmant about 1.20pm (AEST) today, an emergency services spokeswoman said.

Oxygen and acetylene cylinders are used in combination for metal cutting torches or welding metals at high temperatures.

A 23-year-old man suffered facial burns in the explosion but had no apparent breathing problems as he was taken by ambulance to the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

The incident is the second industrial explosion in Brisbane in less than 24 hours.

A 41-year-old man suffered burns to his arms and body when a bitumen profiler he was refuelling exploded about 9.30pm (AEST) yesterday at a workplace on Beaudesert Road in Coopers Plains.

He remains in intensive care in the Royal Brisbane Hospital but his burns are not considered life threatening.

Workplace health and safety officers are investigating both incidents.

OHS News Tip: Industrial Work Method Statement

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10:23 am, Wednesday 25 June, 2008

Source: TVNZ.co.nz

Two men have died in separate workplace incidents at the Port of Lyttelton in Christchurch and in Rotorua.

Police say the Lyttelton Port Authority employee was fatally injured in the workplace accident on Cashin Quay, and died at the scene about 8pm on Tuesday.
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Details of the accident have not yet been revealed.

Occupational Health and safety is investigating the accident.

Rotorua man Richard Skeoch, was crushed to death by a bus on Tuesday afternoon. Workmates are saddened and shocked by the tragic accident.

The 37-year-old worked at Beaurepaires on Te Ngae Road.

A spokesperson for Beaurepaires says he was a popular member of the staff, even though he hadn’t been there too long.

Staff at the tyre company are being offered counseling.

Two investigations are underway into the Rotorua accident and the death has been referred to the coroner.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Health and Safety Work Method Statement

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11:54 am, Tuesday 24 June, 2008

Source: The Advertiser

Charges against two men that arose from the workplace death of a Mandurang man nearly 20 months ago have been dropped.

However, the case against the companies involved in the incident will continue to the Bendigo County Court, after a hearing in the Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday.

Ian Grose, 56, died when he was crushed between two trucks at Crystal Ice and Cool Stores in Garsed Street on November 14, 2006.

The father of two was working in the cool store when the accident happened.

He was pinned between one truck that had been reversing into the loading dock and another truck waiting to enter the loading bay.

The volunteer firefighter died at the scene.

He had joined Crystal Ice and Cool Stores two months before his death.

Grose was survived by his wife Lorraine, son Ben and daughter Kate.

Yesterday, the case against former Crystal Industries chief executive Richard Guy was formally struck out.

Charges against his brother, Andrew Guy, were also withdrawn.

ARG Pty Ltd has been charged with one count of breaching a duty of care under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Crystal Transport Pty Ltd has been charged with two counts of the same act – that an employer must provide and maintain a safe work environment.

The matters against both companies will proceed by way of plea in the County Court circuit commencing in late August.

OHS News Tip: Truck – Loading & Unloading Work Method Statement

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11:26 am, Tuesday 24 June, 2008

Source: ABC News

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) has issued a safety alert on the use of swingstage scaffolding in the construction industry.

It is asking the industry to adhere to national standards when using the equipment after two workers fell to their deaths on the Gold Coast at the weekend.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says the men were wearing harnesses attached to the scaffold, but they were not anchored to the high rise building.

The CFMEU wants regulations changed to make it mandatory for workers across Australia to be connected to the building while using swingstage scaffolding.

OHS News Tip: Scaffolding Work Method Statement

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09:08 am, Tuesday 24 June, 2008

Source: Nine MSN

A window cleaner has survived a 25-metre fall from a residential apartment block at Queensland’s Surfers Paradise.

The 20-year-old man was cleaning windows while suspended by abseil on the Solaire Apartments building, on the corner of Cypress and Ferny Avenues, when he fell at 11am.

He suffered spinal and neck injuries and has been transported by paramedics to Gold Coast Hospital, a Queensland Ambulance Services spokesman said.

Queensland’s Workplace Health and Safety inspectors have begun an investigation, a spokeswoman said.

A casual worker at Solaire Apartments, who gave her name as Sheyna, said: “He’s a nice young boy. We’re concerned about the family… He’s a very pleasant boy.

“My head is still spinning. I am still trying to acknowledge what has happened.”

An employee from a nearby business described hearing the body fall to the ground.

“We heard the noise from inside our office,” Danny Jarvis, manager of the local AVIS car rental, said. “It sounded like a barrel falling from the back of a truck.”

The fall follows another incident on Queensland’s Gold Coast over the weekend in which two men were killed when swing scaffolding collapsed at a building site.

OHS News Tip: Working at Heights Work Method Statement

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09:03 am, Tuesday 24 June, 2008

Source: The Daily Mercury

Grubs in Mackay have a new poster child.

But if Mackay Regional Council has its way, the poster will soon be torn from the wall.

Council yesterday contacted the Daily Mercury to help with the search for the low-life who dumped 1.5tonnes of asbestos-laced sheeting at Bakers Creek.

The incident, which potentially posed a major health risk to the community, was reported on June 10.

Council immediately hired an asbestos-licensed contractor and the material was removed the same day at a cost of more than $2000 to ratepayers.

The sheeting, which council believes was probably a shed but may have been a roof or fence, was dumped in a nature reserve off Dewars Road, near the old Bakers Creek waste transfer facility.

The reserve is frequented by children and fishermen. Acting manager for waste services Jason Grandcourt said council was working with Workplace Health and Safety and the Environmental Protection Agency to track down the offender.

He called on anyone with information about the offence to come forward. “It’s disgusting,” Mr Grandcourt said, adding he had never seen so much asbestos dumped before.

“It’s totally irresponsible the area is used by recreational fishermen, and children play there.

“They were all put at risk to asbestos exposure.”

Mr Grandcourt said the sheeting was green and brown in colour. He said someone could have hired a person to transport the material and might not know it was dumped so irresponsibly.

“We’re hoping someone will be able to identify it as their shed,” he said.

“They obviously wouldn’t be happy if they’ve paid someone and that person hasn’t done the right thing.”

A resident reported hearing a truck in the area the night before the material was found.

The Mercury has published several articles highlighting the unsafe removal of asbestos in the wake of the February 15 flood.

But Mr Grandcourt does not believe the material discarded at Bakers Creek came from a flood-damaged home.

“We’ve had a spike over the last two months in asbestos being buried at landfills and we believe that is a result of the floods,” he said.

Council said the disposal occurred prior to June 10 but not before May 29.

OHS News Tip: Asbestos Removal Work Method Statement

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06:00 pm, Monday 23 June, 2008

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Three people have been taken to hospital after an explosion at a north Queensland sugar mill.

A Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said two 1000 litre vats containing sugar heated to 110 degrees Celsius exploded at a laboratory at the Pioneer Sugar Mill, south of Townsville.

A spokeswoman for the mill said in a statement three people had been taken to hospital but no one was seriously injured.

One employee received minor injuries.

That worker and two colleagues, who were treated for shock after being freed from the laboratory by fire officers, were taken to Ayr Hospital.

The spokeswoman said all employees and contractors had been accounted for.

“A full-site evacuation has been completed,” she said.

“Emergency crews are in attendance.

OHS News Tip: Explosive Material Work Method Statement

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05:58 pm, Monday 23 June, 2008

Source: ABC News

The Queensland branch of the Construction Union is providing counselling for workmates of two men who fell to their death in a high rise accident on the Gold Coast this morning.

Police have confirmed the two men killed were both from the Gold Coast.

It is believed the men aged 36 and 52 had been putting finishing touches to the outside of the 26th floor of a building at Broadbeach when scaffolding collapsed.

State secretary of the Construction Union Michael Ravbar says other workers were left traumatised after witnessing the accident unfold.

“For some reason the swinging stage tilted to the left. The guys as they slid out of the stage still hung on as they had their safety harnesses,” he said.

“For some unknown reason the swinging stage came away from the building and the counter-weights didn’t work and the whole scaffolding and swing stage fell, and the two guys fells to their deaths.”

The accident happened a few blocks from the Gold Coast Convention Centre, where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was the keynote speaker at the Queensland ALP Conference.

“As Labor people, our thoughts are with the families of those men,” he said.

“This terrible accident reminds us all as the Labor Party and the Labour movement of the dangers which continue to affect so many of the work sites of Australia.”

The building site has been shut down pending the outcome of an official investigation and a safety audit of the site will be carried out on Monday

OHS News Tip: Construction Industry Work Method Statement

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