07:30 am, Monday 29 September, 2008

Source: NineMSN News

A 28-year-old machinist has been killed after being dragged into a coal conveyer at an engineering complex in Sydney’s south west.

The Elderslie man suffered severe head injuries when he was pulled into the coal loading machine at the Narellan factory in Graham Hill Road just after 8am (AEST) on Friday.

He was working with two other men on the conveyor section of the machine at the engineering complex, according to police.

A WorkCover spokeswoman said from preliminary information it appeared a worker had been undertaking maintenance when a chain broke, the Camden Advertiser reported.

Paramedics who were called to the site were unable to revive him.

Police and WorkCover officers are investigating the incident.

OHS News Tip: Engineering Safe Work Method Statements

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07:20 am, Monday 29 September, 2008

Source: ABC News

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) says an accident at the Ballarat gold mine on Wednesday is proof the industry needs tougher regulations.

Four workers inside the mine, in central Victoria, were injured on Wednesday evening when a winch cable attached to platform holding materials snapped.

The men were take to the Ballarat hospital, one with a cracked rib, another with an ankle injury.

The state secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Cesar Melhem, says it has been trying to gain access to the mine for 18 months.

“We need to move to tougher regulations and make sure that this sort of incident is being avoided in the future,” he said.

WorkSafe Victoria has issued the mine an improvement notice, which it has one week to comply with.

It says investigators will return to the site today.

OHS News Tip: Mining Industry Safe Work Method Statements

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07:35 am, Sunday 28 September, 2008

Source: WA Today

A worker at an Alcan refinery was “catapulted” to his death on the same day his baby girl “laughed for the first time”, a Darwin court has heard.

Spray painter Daniel Aaron Burman, 33, was hurled 10 metres from an elevated platform on April 23 last year, after the machinery supporting him became unstable.

A second man was injured in the fall at the Gove alumina refinery in north-east Arnhem Land.

Alcan has pleaded guilty to two charges under the Mines Management Act – failing to conduct regular maintenance and failing to ensure machinery was operated by a qualified worker – and faces a maximum fine of more than $1 million.

At the time of the accident, the company was owned by Canadian aluminium giant Alcan, which admitted on Thursday that Mr Burman and his co-workers did not have proper training.

The Alcan group has since been taken over by Rio Tinto.

Alcan also conceded the machine Mr Burman fell from, an 800AJ Boom Lift, was not adequately maintained, with a safety check the day before the tragedy called off because of windy conditions.

“These failures were a cause of the accident which resulted in the death of Daniel Burman,” prosecutor Tom Anderson told Darwin Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

“(The boom lift) hit the ground … the impact had a catapult effect.

“Burman fell out of his harness because he was not wearing it properly. He fell 10 metres to the ground and died almost instantly.”

In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, Mr Burman’s partner Sheree Leanne Russell said their 12-week-old daughter “laughed for the first time” earlier that day.

“I tried to call Daniel so that he could hear her, but his phone went straight to message bank,” she said.

“I did not think anything of it, as I knew that he was working on fuel tanks, so his phone would probably be switched off.”

Ms Russell said she went into shock when she found out about the accident.

“Daniel and I were trying for another baby … We talked about getting married, travelling around Australia and buying our own place,” she said.

OHS News Tip: Elevated Work Platform Work Method Statements

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07:21 am, Sunday 28 September, 2008

A national increase in glassings in licensed venues has put pressure on nightclubs to replace glass with plastic.
A licensed city venue has trialled a no-glass policy in its upstairs nightclub, following a call for from Channel Nine’s A Current Affair for a national ban on glass pots in such venues.
Th issue was highlighted by an alleged attack with a glass at a Geelong nightclub on the weekend.

City mayor Bruce Harwood said it would be a sad indictment on the community if nightclubs were forced to remove glassware to stop the dangerous attacks.

But, he said it was something that the nightlife industry would have to consider.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safe Work Method Statements

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07:47 am, Friday 26 September, 2008

A miner has died after falling from his bulldozer at a coalmine in South Australia yesterday.

The incident is being investigated by Police and WorkSafe SA.

OHS News Tip: Commercial Construction Industry Safe Work Method Statements

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07:35 am, Friday 26 September, 2008

WorkSafe is reviewing the prefabricated building manufacturing industry in an attempt to minimise injuries and disease in the sector.

The sector manufactures temporary or transportable structures such as dongas, transportable houses, offices and classrooms.

Inspectors will visit some 20 companies that manufacture prefabricated buildings to identify safety risks and provide employers with information on how to comply with OH&S laws.

Areas that will be looked at include manual handling.

The inspectors will not review the safety of the structures themselves, as this falls under the Building Code of Australia and is handled by the installing engineers and the local council in which the structure is situated.

Employers who provide accommodation for workers have a duty of care to ensure that the buildings they provide are safe for their employees.

OHS News Tip: Commercial Construction Industry Safe Work Method Statements

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07:30 am, Friday 26 September, 2008

WorkCover Tasmania has released data which reveals 9,873 Tasmanian workers were injured in workplaces across the state during 2007.

This equates to 27 Tasmanians being injured every day and an increase of one per cent from the previous year.

The most common types of injury were soft tissue disorders due to trauma, followed by wounds, lacerations, amputations and internal organ damage.

As part of Safe Work Tasmania Week, which runs from 19–25 October, the Authority is running a series of free workplace health and safety seminars and workshops aimed at all employers and workers.

Asbestos, bullying and living well to prevent cancer are some of the topics on offer during the Week.

OHS News Tip: Workplace Safe Work Method Statements

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07:25 am, Friday 26 September, 2008

Source: The Daily

Failing to wear a seatbelt may have resulted in the death of a 55-year-old man from Browns Plains when he was thrown from his ute.

Daniel John Wruck was driving his Suzuki ute across a rough farm track along the slope of a hill on his Mount Mee property on Wednesday afternoon when it left the road and rolled sideways.

Woodford police officer-in-charge Sergeant Steve Jones said Mr Wruck was thrown from the vehicle, which then rolled over top of him.

The vehicle continued to plummet a further 70 metres.

Ray Williams, from Woodford Fire Services, said Mr Wruck was clearing tracks with a bulldozer when the accident occurred.

The contract worker in the bulldozer alerted emergency services about 2.30pm.

Emergency crews from Woodford, Caboolture and Brisbane, including a rescue helicopter, attended the scene.

The incident is being investigated by Workplace Health and Safety.

OHS News Tip: Vehicle Accident Work Method Statements

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07:20 am, Thursday 25 September, 2008

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has completed its review of controversial swinging stage scaffolds, after one collapsed, killing two construction workers in June.

However, rather than banning them from building sites, the authority has recommended a series of new regulations to improve their design, installation and use.

Despite there being regulations already in place, not all parties were fully aware of their obligations, according to the Authority’s report.

The report stated that there was an apparent abuse and misunderstanding of the safe use and set up of suspended scaffolding, which required clarifying and policing.

The new initiatives recommended by the report involve the upgrading of information available to the industry and additional specialised training.

The Authority said that inspectors would have a zero tolerance approach as the new regulations were enforced.

OHS News Tip: Scaffolding Work Method Statements

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07:27 am, Wednesday 24 September, 2008

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the explosion at the gas plant at Longford.  The accident occurred on 25 September 1998, killing two workers and injuring another eight.

The accident shut down gas supplies to Victoria for two weeks, affecting 1.3 million households and more than 89,000 businesses, and costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

WorkSafe prosecuted Esso Australia Pty Ltd, who were convicted and fined $2 million on 30 July 2001.  This remains the biggest single OHS fine in Victorian history.

WorkSafe Victoria established a Major Hazards Unit in 1999, and introduced new Regulations for Hazard Facilities in 2000. These regulations required all Major Hazard Facility operators to provide a ‘Safety Case’ demonstrating how they would prevent a major incident from occurring at their facilities.  Victoria’s safety case regime was the first in the world to require major hazard facilities to be licensed.

A rigorous process applies to all applications for a licence, and the facilities are visited regularly by WorkSafe Inspectors.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director of Health and Safety, John Merritt, said that the anniversary is an important reminder of how essential safety in the workplace is: “I think it’s important that we remember two workers lost their lives and another eight were injured in this accident.  Victoria’s Major Hazard Facilities are now regulated at the highest levels in Australia, if not the world, but we must always remain vigilant and ensure the safety of workers and the public is paramount.”

OHS News Tip: Working With Gas Work Method Statements

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