07:17 am, Thursday 18 December, 2008

Source: Gold Coast News

A truck driver who was on the phone to his mother when he caused a crash that killed one person and injured nine has been jailed for a year.

Although he had shed tears earlier, Michael Robert Hogan, 37, of Kyogle, showed little emotion yesterday when told he would be sent to prison.

Hogan, who pleaded guilty, appeared in the District Court at Beenleigh for sentencing on a charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm.

The charges followed an incident involving the prime mover he was driving, and six other vehicles, on the M1 at Yatala in July, 2006.

Outside court yesterday, crash victim Patrick McCue, who was severely injured in the incident, said he felt the sentence was too lenient.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine, after being told of the one-year sentence by The Bulletin, said he would request a copy of the judge’s sentencing remarks.

A spokesman for Mr Shine said the Attorney-General would peruse the material to see whether there were grounds for an appeal. Mr Shine has 28 days to appeal.

The court was told Hogan was transporting a load of household rubbish north on the M1 when his truck careered into southbound lanes, across a vegetated centre median strip, colliding with oncoming traffic.

During the crash, which a witness had previously described as like ‘a bomb going off’, Erin Schuster, 24, was killed and Mr McCue, an Energex worker, seriously injured.

Eight others were also injured but the court heard emergency workers and the families of those involved in the incident had also been gravely affected.

Witnesses said Hogan appeared to make no attempt to straighten the truck or brake as he crossed on to the wrong side of the motorway.

The crash also caused the closure of southbound lanes of the motorway for up to five hours.

Yesterday morning, Hogan arrived at court flanked by family and supporters, more than an hour before his hearing was due to begin.

He wore a dark suit and dark tie, as he silently made his way into the court house. A sombre mood prevailed in the courtroom as accident victims, their families and Hogan’s supporters sat stony-faced in the public gallery as the hearing began.

In arguing for a jail term of three to four years, Crown Prosecutor Megan Heywood said there was strong evidence to suggest Hogan, who had been a professional truck driver for most of his adult life, had been speaking on a mobile phone to his mother at the time of the crash.

“As the driver of a heavy vehicle he assumed the risk of talking on a mobile phone,” she said.

“The defendant must have known that it was dangerous.”

In asking for leniency, barrister Charlie Bagley said Hogan had suffered psychological distress to the point he had attempted suicide twice in the aftermath of the incident.

The court also heard Hogan, who sustained head injuries in the crash, could remember nothing about the crash, including whether he had been speaking on a mobile phone.

During the hearing, Mr Bagley offered an apology to the victims and their families on Hogan’s behalf.

Judge Ian Dearden repeatedly described the consequences of the ‘classically and clearly preventable’ crash as ‘catastrophic’.

After reading several victims’ impact statements, Judge Dearden acknowledged Hogan’s remorse, good driving record and lack of criminal history before imposing the three-and-a-half year sentence, with only 12-months to be served in actual custody.

He also said Hogan and his family had suffered along with the victims and their families.

Hogan was also disqualified from driving for four years.

Mr McCue, speaking outside court, said he thought the sentence seemed lenient.

“Twelve months does seem like a fairly light sentence for killing someone and destroying so many lives and you’ve got to think that if Carl Williams would have run over his victims instead of shooting them, he might be out on the street now,” he said.

Also outside court, mother and daughter, Sandra Eastwood and Renee Cole, who were also both injured in the crash, said they were struggling to forget.

“I remember every graphic detail,” said Ms Cole who was pregnant at the time of the crash. “We relive it most days of our lives … we just have to get on with it.”

OHS News Tip: Safe Work Method Statement

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07:14 am, Wednesday 17 December, 2008

Source: News Mail

A man died in more than a metre of water and mud after he was pinned under a tractor that fell into an irrigation channel at a Moore Park Beach farm yesterday.

He was about to start work spraying weeds along a cane railway line at Lindemans Road when the tragic accident occurred about 6.45am. Senior Constable Tim Lowth said Stephen Michael Hetherington, 69, was killed in the incident. Mr Hetherington, who also lived on Lindemans Road, was reversing his tractor when the accident happened. ‘He reversed his tractor to commence the spray and the embankment has collapsed under it,’ Snr Const Lowth said.

‘He was on the tractor as it fell into the creek.’

The man was pinned underneath the piece of machinery in the drain and the accident was concealed from the road by the railway embankment.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Bundaberg station officer Chris Sheather said a neighbour first discovered the scene and raised the alarm.

Emergency services rushed to the area, but could not do anything for the tractor driver, who had died sometime between 6.45am and 8.20am.

The Bundaberg Energex Community Rescue Helicopter was called, but was stood down after the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police blocked the road for about two-and-a-half hours as they discussed the best way to remove the tractor from the water channel.

Mr Sheather said police organised a tow truck with a winch to right the tractor and it arrived about 10.45am.

‘(Police and firefighters) then rigged up a ladder and stretcher and recovered the body from a drop of between two and three metres,’ Mr Sheather said.

‘It was quite steep and there was a risk of further wall collapses from the side of the bank.’ Neighbours congregated in the farmhouse on the Moore Park Beach property as police and firefighters watched over the scene until the body could be safely retrieved.

Snr Const Lowth said Mr Hetherington was contracted to spray the weeds along the cane train line and the water channel A spokesman from Queensland Workplace Health and Safety confirmed to the NewsMail that it was investigating the fatal incident.

OHS News Tip: Tractor Safe Work Method Statement

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07:29 am, Tuesday 16 December, 2008

A company and its director have been fined a total of $200,000 after a worker was killed in 2006 while operating an unguarded machine.

The employee was looking into the machine, which made exhaust pipes, when he was fatally struck on the head.

The machine’s main safety feature, a laser safety curtain, was not working properly at the time.

The court said the company had failed to ensure safety procedures for the machine were in place, such as lock out procedures for plant and equipment.

The company pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined $100,000.

Its director pleaded guilty to one count of failing to provide training, supervision and instruction to the worker and was also fined $100,000.

It is the first time a director has been sentenced for a workplace fatality under the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

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07:01 am, Tuesday 16 December, 2008

With Christmas around the corner it might seem a strange time for WorkSafe Victoria to release a new television commercial.

The new TV commercial to be screened from last night builds on the award-winning success of the previous Homecomings commercials.

The campaign will also run on radio, be shown on outdoor billboards and in cinemas from Boxing Day.

The television advertisement shows a mother and two children watching television when a news-flash advises of a disaster at a construction site.

“Wasn’t that where dad was working?” asks the daughter.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director John Merritt said the campaign reinforced the ‘moral right’ of workers to return home safely every day.

“At this time of year when many Victorian Christmas dinners will be missing someone, this campaign is a reminder that workplace injuries don’t take holidays.

“Victorian workplaces are at their busiest right now. Retail and warehousing environments are obviously exceptionally busy, but in many offices, construction and manufacturing businesses, people are rushing to get work finished before an extended break.

“Employers at this time of year need to take exceptional care to ensure their people are properly trained, supervised and working in a safe way.

“This is particularly true of industries where there are many people taking jobs straight from school or university.

“With the working environment to become more frantic in the next couple of weeks, now is the time to ensure every workplace has the systems and procedures in place to minimise risk.

“People need to concentrate on what they’re doing, not what they might be doing tonight, at the weekend or on their well-deserved break.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re in a position to enjoy the fruits of your labour,” Mr Merritt said.

“There are signs of major improvement this year on many fronts including a decline in the number of workplace fatalities, but as Thursday’s tragedy at Ballarat shows, the whole community suffers each time a life is lost or someone is badly hurt in the workplace.

Reported workplace injuries and deaths by financial year.

Calendar year fatalities.

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07:31 am, Monday 15 December, 2008

Employers who engage staff to work outdoors over summer should ensure adequate Sun Protection policies are in place.

A recent Victorian Council of Social Services report on climate change predicts that as annual temperatures rise due to the effects of global warming, heat-related deaths in Victoria will rise from 582 a year to 604 by 2020 and to 1318 by 2050.

Shearers spend alot of time working in the heat. Their industry’s health and safety report calls for an understanding of the dangers of heat stress. Whilst new farming machinery has the luxury of air-conditioning, not all paddocks and saleyards have shade.

Heat stress came to the fore at one cattle sale in southern Victoria last year. The temperature soared to 45C, leaving many stock agents exhausted. One agent was hospitalised with dehydration for several days.

Staff were instructed before the sale to drink plenty of water, wear hats and sunscreen and there was a plan to rotate auctioneers so they could rest. Water was on sale for buyers and vendors and buckets were placed around the yards for people to wet their heads as they moved about.

It is difficult for sale organisers to cancel a sale at the 11th hour, since stock must be selected, transported and drafted in the days before the sale.

While the heat-stress victim made a full recovery, the incident provided some lessons for those working outdoors in the heat.

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07:17 am, Monday 15 December, 2008

Source: ABC News

Two Brisbane companies have been fined after a worker lost his eye and another fractured his arm in separate workplace accidents.

Buildmark Constructions has been fined $30,000 after a worker lost an eye in a nail gun accident on Brisbane’s northside.

It happened last year at Wavell Heights when a nail ricocheted off a compressed fibro sheet into the eye of a man working below.

The Brisbane Industrial Magistrates court heard the company failed to maintain an exclusion zone around the worker prior to the accident which would have prevented the injury.

In another incident a man fractured his arm when he was struck by a burst high pressure hose at Murarrie.

Barry Bros Specialised Services pleaded guilty in the Wynnum Industrial Magistrates Court to failing to ensure the safety of a worker.

No conviction was recorded against either company.

OHS News Tip: Safe Work Method Statement

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07:38 am, Friday 12 December, 2008

WorkSafe is investigating the death of a 17-year-old Ballarat worker who was run over by a truck at Ballarat’s Lihir gold mine today.

Although WorkSafe’s investigation is at an early stage, it is understood the young man was hit by a truck from which he had just alighted after a break.

The young worker, who was from Ballarat, was employed by a company contracted to do earthworks at the mine.

The incident happened just after 10am.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director John Merritt, said the death of the first-year apprentice should send a message to all employers and workers about the need to ensure workplaces were as safe possible.

“In the lead up to Christmas when most people are extremely busy, today’s incident should send a strong, clear message about how most deaths and injuries occur with people doing routine tasks.

“At this time of year, people are busy getting work completed before holidays, completing contracts or trying to juggle a range of work and social requirements. In retail and warehouse environments they’re handling enormous amounts of stock on a daily basis.

Today’s death comes days before a new advertising campaign to promote workplace safety.

Television advertising goes to air Sunday night.

“As our Homecomings series of ads show, the reasons for everyone to be safe at work aren’t there at all.”

OHS News Tip: Vehicle Accident Work Method Statement

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07:37 am, Thursday 11 December, 2008

Source: The Australian

Billionaire miner Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group will defend charges over the deaths of two workers last year when Cyclone George flattened one of the company’s railway camps in the Pilbara.

Lawyers for FMG and six other companies pleaded not guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday to more than 40 charges brought by Worksafe under the West Australian Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The charges include the failure to provide a safe work environment, failure to design and construct temporary accommodation and other buildings capable of withstanding a cyclone and failure to properly instruct and train workers.

Charges were dismissed against the Darwin-based Spunbrood, which trades as NT Link, and is involved in the installation of transportable buildings.

Another company named in the original charges, Len Buckeridge’s BGC Contracting, pleaded not guilty at a September hearing.

Cyclone George destroyed one-third of the FMG rail camp 1100km south of Port Hedland in March last year.

Perth mother of two Debbie Alexandra Till, 47, was killed when the portable home, or donga, she was sheltering in was flung across the site.

She had been working as a kitchenhand for the property and maintenance services company Spotless Services Australia, one of the companies charged.

Craig Allan Raabe, 42, of Gympie in Queensland, who had been working for BGC Contracting, died hospital from head injuries suffered in the cyclone.

The Worksafe charges also relate to the injuries sustained by seven people at the camp during the cyclone.

The other companies charged are Pilbara Infrastructure, Spotless P&F, Laing O’Rourke and WorleyParsons Services.

FMG and the six other companies that pleaded not guilty yesterday will reappear in the Perth Magistrates Court on February 17 for a trial allocation hearing. BGC is due back in court on March 11 next year.

OHS News Tip: Safe Work Method Statements

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07:28 am, Thursday 11 December, 2008

Workcover NSW and the Police are investigating the death of a man during a workplace incident this week.

The man was unloading a semi-trailer at his employer’s premises when he fell from the vehicle and lost consciousness. He later died at hospital.

WorkCover will conduct a review of what Safety Procedures for Loading and Unloading Truckswere in place.

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07:15 am, Wednesday 10 December, 2008

Source: The Morning Bulletin

A Biloela machinery business was yesterday fined $30,000 after an employee suffered a fractured eye socket and jaw when equipment failed.

An adjustment bolt from a sheet metal roller, which was “overloaded by 10 times its capacity”, struck the worker in the face as he stood beside the machine. The company, Lamont Investments Qld Pty Ltd, failed to ensure correct workplace health and safety procedures for operating the particular piece of equipment.

Yesterday the two owners of the business pleaded guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court to failing to discharge a workplace health and safety act.

Department of Employment and Industrial Relations representative Raymond Kickbush said the employee of two years was with an experienced boilermaker when the accident occurred on July 11, 2007 at 11am.

He said the worker’s injuries were equivalent to grievous bodily harm and he required two operations.

Mr Kickbush said Lamont Investments failed to identify systems of work as a hazard, develop safe operating procedures based on risk assessment and provide support and training.

Defence barrister Jeff Clarke said Lamont Investment has since rectified all matters and contracted a private workplace health and safety company to review procedures.

He said the owners purchased the small business, which employees eight workers, in 2004 and were not aware the machinery was a hazard.

“They are fully aware of the obligations for safe operation of machinery,” Mr Clarke said.

“Thankfully there was no underlying head injury or lasting eye impairment.

“They’ve also been very supportive to the employee.”

Thankfully there was no underlying head injury or lasting eye impairment

OHS News Tip: Sheet Metal Work Method Statement

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