12:08 pm, Thursday 31 July, 2008

This year’s Safety Show Sydney will focus on safety solutions for the building and construction industry, with a special feature area that incorporates height safety equipment, scaffolding nets, appliance tagging and testing, safety and isolation switches and power distribution cords.

Regarded as one of Australia’s most dangerous industries, building and construction has a workplace death toll twice the Australian average.

The convention, which showcases the latest in safety technology, will be held from October 28 to 30 at the Sydney Showground. It will be held alongside Sydney Materials Handling, a show dedicated to load, move and shift solutions.

The two events are expected to host more than 350 occupational health and safety specialists offering everything from asbestos removal to warehouse management systems.

WorkCover NSW will also run a series of free workshops on workplace safety issues.

OHS News Tip: Residential Construction Industry Work Method Statements
OHS News Tip: Commercial Construction Industry Work Method Statements

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07:50 am, Thursday 31 July, 2008

After a 16 month investigation, WorkSafe WA will prosecute 8 companies, including Fortescue Metals Group,  the company of Australia’s richest man, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest,  in connection with two deaths and serious injuries to seven others at a Pilbara construction camp during Cyclone George in March 2007.

The companies to be prosecuted are Spotless P & F, Pilbara Infrastructure, BGC Contracting, Laing O’Rourke, Spunbrood, WorleyParsons, Spotless Services and FMG.

The companies face a total of 49 charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984, including failure to provide and maintain a safe working environment, failure to maintain accommodation and failing to ensure temporary structures could withstand potential cyclones.

Severe winds destroyed temporary accommodation at the construction camp, 100km south of Port Hedland, which was part of FMG’s $3 billion Pilbara mine and infrastructure development.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said that the large number of charges demonstrated the breadth of occupational safety and health responsibilities.

The cyclone deaths prompted the issuing of two Safety Bulletins and reminders to local government authorities about WorkSafe’s reporting requirements for building and construction projects.

The charges carry fines ranging from $200,000 to $400,000.

OHS News Tip: Commercial Construction Industry Work Method Statement

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07:35 am, Thursday 31 July, 2008

Source: Adelaide Now

The state’s most powerful union boss, from a Labor faction that offered crucial support for WorkCover laws, has been given a $50,000-a-year post on the WorkCover board.

The Advertiser understands Peter Malinauskas, who replaced Right factional heavyweight Senator Don Farrell as secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, will be appointed within weeks.

The deal to get Mr Malinauskas on the board was secured this month by former industrial relations minister Michael Wright, a member of the Right, before he lost responsibility for WorkCover to Paul Caica, of the Left, in last week’s Cabinet reshuffle.

The new WorkCover laws caused a deep factional split in the Labor Party but Premier Mike Rann won the day with the help of key Right figures in convincing ALP members the laws were necessary.

Deep divisions over WorkCover still exist.

The Government faces a censure motion, moved by the Australian Workers’ Union, at the ALP state convention on August 16.

Mr Malinauskas would replace SA Unions secretary Janet Giles. She quit the board in February in protest at the new laws.

By law, the board must consist of nine members. Among requirements are that “two members must be appointed in consultation with worker interests”.

Mr Caica is understood to have met the board yesterday but he would make no comment.

Mr Malinauskas yesterday said: “I have not had any discussions with the Government about this for the past fortnight. I’m still waiting and I haven’t heard anything official, so I’m just not in a position to be able to provide any comment.”

Opposition Upper House MP Rob Lucas said the appointment was “typical of the Rann Government’s arrogance when WorkCover is facing a $1 billion unfunded liability crisis”.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safety Work Method Statement

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07:29 am, Wednesday 30 July, 2008

Source: The Australian

A worker has been killed after a hydraulic lift fell on him at BHP Billiton’s Nelson Point operations in the West Australian mining town of Port Hedland.

BHP had suspended all rail and port operations at the centre until further notice, the resources giant said in a statement.

The 52-year-old Port Hedland man was conducting maintenance work on the scissor lift when it fell on him at 11am (WST) yesterday, police said.

WorkSafe WA is investigating and BHP is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.

BHP said the man’s next of kin had not yet been notified.

OHS News Tip: Scissor Lift Safety Work Method Statement

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07:20 am, Wednesday 30 July, 2008

Source: The West

Lawyers for the family of a woman killed during cyclone George said yesterday it was pathetic that the catering firm she worked for could walk away with a maximum fine of $400,000 if found guilty of safety breaches which led to her death.

As WorkSafe prepares to prosecute four companies in relation to the death of kitchen hand Debra Till, Perth lawyer Sharad Nigam said it was shameful that the Occupational Safety and Health Act listed maximum penalties of $400,000 for each charge.

He called for the maximum penalties to be removed from the legislation so that judges could determine the appropriate fine based on the severity of each case.

“The $400,000 is grossly inadequate when there is a mining boom, which is the case here,” Mr Nigam said.

“There should be open discretion to the court so it can assess the amount of financial penalty for these types of breaches because the current maximum amount would have no effect at all.”

He said Mrs Till’s death fell into one of the worst categories of workplace negligence cases because the camp overseen by Fortescue Metals Group had 72 hours warning of a cyclone.

Instead of being evacuated. Mrs Till, who was employed by Spotless P&F Pty Ltd, was told to shelter in her donga.

When it was battered by winds of up to 275kmh she was flung into the air and crushed by flying debris.

He said new laws should require negligent employers to pay the same amount in fines as they paid in compensation to the family of a dead relative.

And current laws needed to be rewritten so penalties imposed were in proportion with the huge profits made by mining companies and their contractors.

Construction union deputy Joe McDonald agreed that the existing fines were paltry and went a step further yesterday, calling for harsher laws.

“The $400,000 maximum payout is woefully insufficient to allow members of the Till family to rebuild their lives after the tragic loss of Debra Till, a mother of two,” he said.

Eight companies, including one owned by the richest man in Australia, Andrew Forrest, will be prosecuted in connection with two deaths and injuries to seven people during cyclone George in March last year.

FMG, Spotless P&F Pty Ltd, The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd, BGC Contracting, Laing O’Rourke Pty Ltd, NT Link, WorleyParsons Services and Spotless Services Australia face a total of 49 charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

All eight companies are due to appear in Perth Magistrate’s Court on September 10.

Spotless did not return phone calls this week.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safe Work Method Statement

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07:45 am, Tuesday 29 July, 2008

Source: The Southland Times

The Employment Relations Authority has ordered New Zealand Aluminium Smelters to pay $5000 to a Tiwai Point aluminium smelter employee after he suffered continuing skin rashes arising from his work.

Martin McAtear, an Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union member, had sought $10,000 compensation in an authority hearing against the smelter, saying a recurring skin rash that appeared over an 18-month period did not need to happen.

If his crew leader, Douglas Ronald, had acted on his requests to be put on crane-driving duties from time to time, instead of being mostly confined to a hot working environment at the “fires”, his heat rash would have been controllable, Mr McAtear said at the hearing earlier this year. Instead, it worsened and became infected.

Mr Ronald said at the hearing he expected his process controller at the time, Mr McAtear, to be on the fires as that was his job, while it was difficult to rotate staff when there was not a full complement of crew.

In her written decision, Employment Relations Authority member Helen Doyle says Mr McAtear’s direct bosses at the smelter, Mr Ronald and David Carrick, took no specific steps to rotate him off the fires to prevent or minimise his heat rash before it required medical intervention.

She accepted a submission from Mr McAtear’s union lawyer, Tony Wilton, that there was evidence to support a deliberate course of behaviour to not rotate Mr McAtear rather than mere negligence.

There had been a breach of the aluminium smelter’s obligation to provide a safe workplace, her decision said.

She limited compensation to the humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to Mr McAtear’s feelings. He was not entitled to be compensated for the injury itself because he was covered by ACC.

Mr McAtear, who has worked at the smelter for 25 years, said yesterday he was pleased with the outcome and he felt vindicated in taking the action.

“I have had overwhelming support from the employees down there.” New Zealand Aluminium Smelters operations manager Paul Hemburrow said Mr McAtear was a long-serving and valued employee and it was pleasing the matter had been worked through and a mutually agreeable solution had been found.

Mr Ronald declined to comment yesterday, while it is understood Mr Carrick has moved to Australia and is working at another Rio Tinto smelter.

Mr McAtear also took a personal grievance case against the smelter after he said he was directed to lift some flue caps by Mr Ronald when he had a medical certificate saying he was to avoid heavy lifting. He said he suffered further injury as a result of the instruction.

Ms Doyle found in her decision that Mr McAtear was submitted to an unjustified action when asked to lift a flue cap but she was not satisfied the evidence supported a compensation payout.

Mr McAtear should have refused to lift the flue cap, she said.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safe Work Method Statement

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07:30 am, Tuesday 29 July, 2008

Source: The Australian

Nine workers have been sacked after they allegedly used a contractor’s heavy machinery to build an earth ramp over which they jumped one of the worker’s vehicles.

The worker’s Toyota Hilux was then crushed by an excavator and bulldozer before being carted off.

The destruction on July 17 at a work site on a key section of the Queensland Government’s water grid known as the northern pipeline interconnector was filmed on a worker’s mobile phone.

The workers allegedly first used a contractor’s excavator and bulldozer to build an earth ramp.

They then drove a 1980s model Toyota Hilux at speed over the ramp in a spectacular jump.

Three workers were in the Hilux when it took the jump at a pipeline work site land adjacent to Walton Road, Beerwah.

The utility truck was then crushed by the excavator and the bulldozer.

A crane used on the pipeline was allegedly used to place the wrecked vehicle onto a flatbed truck for removal.

The pipeline is part of the $9 billion water grid being installed across southeast Queensland by the Southern Regional Water Pipeline Alliance (SRWPA).

A spokeswoman said SRWPA was aware of footage showing “intentional demolition of a private vehicle using sub-contractor machinery by workforce on the northern pipeline interconnector”.

“Workers directly associated with the incident have been dismissed,” the spokeswoman said.

“The alliance will not tolerate such behaviour on any of its work sites.

“The SRWPA has comprehensive workplace health and safety policies and procedures regarding safe behaviour in the workplace, including the operation of vehicles and machinery.”

The SRWPA has reserved its legal options.

“To date, the alliance’s only action against the individuals has been termination of employment,” the spokeswoman said.

OHS News Tip: Earth Moving Safe Work Method Statement
OHS News Tip: Commercial Construction Safe Work Method Statement

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07:27 am, Monday 28 July, 2008

Source: Brisbane Times

Up to 2000 former air maintenance workers could seek compensation for illnesses contracted while working on toxic F-111 planes if a new mediation scheme is approved.

According to Brisbane law firm Herbert Geer partner Simon Harrison, the case of the ex-RAAF workers affected by poisonous chemicals used to fix leaking fuel tanks is unique in Australian history, making it difficult to resolve by traditional methods.

A group of 25 of the former workers currently represented by Mr Harrison have high hopes for the new mediation process.

If successful, the scheme could resolve recompense issues for not only the 25 represented, but for the thousands of ex-RAAF employees who have suffered from various injuries as a result of exposure to the chemical SR51, which was used at the RAAF’s Amberley base, west of Brisbane, between 1973 and 2000.

Mr Harrison said the whole compensation issue needed a “fresh start” and, so far, progress looked promising.

“The indication that we have been given by the inquiry committee is that our proposed way is something that will be actively considered,” Mr Harrison said.

In his submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Concerns of F-111 Deseal/Reseal Maintenance Workers, Mr Harrison said there had to be a “third way” of delivering justice because the common law and existing statutory schemes were not working.

“The injured have been let down by a statutory scheme which is not designed for the nature of these claims and the common law alternative was in reality, no alternative,” he said.

Mr Harrison said the Howard government’s ex-gratia scheme, which offered some sufferers payments between $10,000 and $40,000, was well intentioned but had not “delivered”.

“The issues (of the complaint) are too unique to be addressed by a process set up for generic matters and individual complaints as opposed to en masse chemical exposure claims,” he said.

Mr Harrison said there had been schemes set up in other unique circumstances, such as the Jayant Patel cases, where the Queensland Government established a specific arbitration process to streamline settlements and finalise matters.

Mr Harrison said his clients would enter the inquiry in good faith but time was against them due to their injuries.

“People have already died. They will never be compensated. Obviously we want things to move quickly so those still around can have themselves and their families compensated.”

Mr Harrison said he would also like to see the inquiry widened to look into the disposal of SR51.

A previous Deseal/Reseal Board of Inquiry found the disposal process was poorly specified and supervised.

“It’s important to know whether the disposal protocols in place ensured that the contaminants were contained,” Mr Harrison said.

He said he would welcome partnering or advising State and Federal Governments in relation to addressing these matters.

OHS News Tip: Chemical Handling Safe Work Method Statement

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07:23 am, Monday 28 July, 2008

Source: Perth Now

Companies owned by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest face fines of up to $7 million over the death of a worker and serious injuries sustained during a Pilbara cyclone.

Cyclone George, a category five storm, killed two workers and injured several others in March last year when 275km/h winds sent temporary accommodation buildings at a mining construction site flying and flattened the area.

The camp, 100km south of Port Hedland, was part of the iron ore miner’s $3 billion Pilbara mine and infrastructure development.

Two workers died on the Fortescue Metal Group’s railway construction camp - one of them a kitchenhand and the other a construction worker.

Craig Allan Raabe, 42, of Gympie in Queensland, died in hospital two days after the cyclone. He was an employee of a contractor to BGC Contracting, part of the Buckeridge Group of Companies, associated with colourful Perth businessman Len Buckeridge.

BGC faces four charges of failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment in relation to the death, and injuries to three employees.

Debra Till, 47, was killed while working for the property and maintenance services company Spotless P & F.

The WA government’s safety watchdog Worksafe has laid 49 charges against eight companies including Mr Forrest’s Fortescue and its wholly owned subsidiary Pilbara Infrastructure.

After a 16-month investigation Pilbara Infrastructure has been charged with 12 counts of failing to provide a safe working environment and five counts of failing to maintain the premises on employer-provided accommodation.

Fortescue has been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment causing serious harm to a contractor.

The company which constructed the accommodation units or “dongas”, Spunbrood, trading as NT Link, has refused to comment.

The designer of the dongas, Spotless Services Australia, faces eight charges over alleged failure to ensure the dongas could withstand a cyclone.

Spotless Services did not immediately return AAP’s calls.

Railway construction and maintenance services company Laing O’Rourke was also charged and would not comment.

All other charges, apart from those laid against WorleyParsons, Australia’s largest engineering firm, carry a maximum penalty of $400,000.

WorleyParsons faces a single charge of failing to provide a safe working environment, with a maximum penalty of $200,000.

FMG and Pilbara Infrastructure, civil construction company BGC and WorleyParsons have all said they will defend the charges against them.

It is understood Fortescue made confidential ex-gratia payments late last year to the families of two deceased.

Sydney man Desmond Baker, 74, also died in the cyclone when it struck his temporary hut at nearby Indi station.

WorkSafe says Mr Baker was not employed at the time and is not the subject of any of the charges.

OHS News Tip: Cyclone Safe Work Method Statements

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08:01 am, Friday 25 July, 2008

Source: ABC News

The company of Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest, is facing 18 charges over its safety standards after two workers died at a camp during Cyclone George.

WorkSafe has laid one charge against Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group and 17 charges against its subsidiary, The Pilbara Infrastructure.

Debra Till, 47, and Craig Raabe 42, died when the category five storm ripped through their Pilbara railway camp in March last year.

Seven other workers were injured.

The charges relate to failing to provide a safe workplace.

Several other charges have been laid against other companies associated with the incident.

The charges come a week after it was confirmed an inquest into the deaths of Debra Till and Craig Rahb would begin next month.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safe Work Method Statements

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