07:36 am, Tuesday 24 February, 2009

Source: ABC News

Alan Byrne often wishes he had been in a horrific car crash rather than Suffer Heat Stroke.

So severe is the damage he suffered working on a 42C day that the 33-year-old Berwick man has permanent brain damage, can no longer walk, has trouble talking and has even had to have his face rebuilt.

With summer’s record heat already claiming at least 30 lives, emergency doctors are warning Victorians to be aware of the danger of heat stroke, which claims the life of one in four severe cases, before more hot days.

Mr Byrne’s injuries have now become the subject of one of Australia’s biggest WorkCover claims, with the $580,000 in medical and loss of earnings costs already paid expected to be much more than $1 million by the time his injuries are fully assessed.

Mr Byrne suffered injuries most people would associate with road trauma or assault when he collapsed after working as a brickie’s labourer on a 42C day in Queensland on Valentines Day 2006.

As his organs shut down one by one while he battled on life support in hospital, it was doubted Mr Byrne would survive.

But rehabilitation services at Southern Health’s Cranbourne Community Rehabilitation Centre are now helping him regain some of his former capabilities.

Two weeks before his collapse Mr Byrne had moved to Airlie Beach to start a new life, but he is now cared for by his parents Bernadette and Des at their Berwick home.

The heat caused his body to shut down, robbing his brain of oxygen.

The loss of oxygen in his blood was so severe his facial bones rotted away, requiring extensive surgery to rebuild his jaw, nose and lower face.

“Initially it looked like he had significant brain damage and wasn’t ever going to be able to anything,” Ms Byrne said. “But since then he has improved. I still see little improvements in him.

“Often Alan says he wishes he was in a car accident because people he saw in rehab can walk again, but he hasn’t been able to yet.”

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07:15 am, Tuesday 24 February, 2009

Source: ABC News

A South Australian parliamentary inquiry has heard that WorkCover’s unfunded liability has blown out to more than $1 billion.

In evidence to the inquiry, WorkCover’s CEO Julia Davison said the world financial crisis could be blamed for the increase.

The unfunded liability was last reported at $984 million.

Committee chairman MP Rob Lucas says WorkCover’s internal actuary calculated the figure and it will be confirmed externally next month.

He says the inquiry was told that WorkCover’s board has met only four times in the past eight months.

“For the life of me I can’t understand if you have this global financial crisis that you’re talking about and we’re paying these people 60-70 thousand for the chair and above, why are they not meeting at the very least monthy to review the situation,” he said.

The South Australian Government says WorkCover’s unfunded liability does not reflect on the organisation’s injury claims performance.

The Industrial Relations Minister, Paul Caica, says the global financial crisis is to blame for the increase, because of a deterioration in WorkCover’s investments.

“The unfunded liability is made up of two parts – the claims component and the investment component, that then gives the total unfunded liability,” he said.

“I’m pleased to report that the early indicators are that the legislative change that was to bring down the claims component is tracking well.”

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07:03 am, Tuesday 24 February, 2009

Source: The Courier

A Newlyn toddler was killed on Saturday morning when he fell underneath a Tractor.

The accident occurred about 10.30am on the family’s property in Sawmill Rd.

It is believed Kalon Tippett, who was to turn two next month, was sitting in the bucket of the tractor’s front end loader when he climbed out while it was moving.

The tractor was being driven by a Newlyn man, 56, believed to be the boy’s grandfather.

Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said paramedics from Daylesford and Wendouree attended the property and found the boy in a paddock.

He died at the scene.

Distressed neighbours declined to speak to The Courier.

WorkSafe investigators were at the property on Saturday afternoon to investigate the cause of the boy’s death.

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said his thoughts were with the child’s family.

He said about 20 children aged under 15 were killed on farms across Australia each year.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

The boy’s death on Saturday was the second in the past fortnight involving a toddler and a vehicle on private property.

Nearly two weeks ago, 23-month-old Abby Ballinger was struck by a four-wheel drive vehicle as it was reversing out of a driveway in Avoca Cres, Alfredton.

She suffered critical injuries and died a short time later.

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07:10 am, Monday 23 February, 2009

WorkSafe is investigating an incident where the hand of one worker was amputated and the hand of another worker was badly crushed in a machine at a Tullamarine factory this week.

The two men were carrying out maintenance work on a press when the machine activated.

WorkSafe Victoria’s Executive Director, John Merritt, said the incident reinforced his concern that many employers and workers had to do much more to create Safer Workplaces.

“The reality is that in too many Victorian workplaces, workers are still exposed to the things that were killing and maiming people at the start of the industrial revolution.

“Unguarded Machines along with Inadequate Training, poor supervision and dangerous work practices lead to many amputations, crushings and other serious injuries and deaths each year.

“The obligations on employers and workers under Victoria’s health and safety laws are very clear and they’ve been in place a long time,” Merritt said.

“Waiting until someone was hurt before safety problems are fixed is not an option.

“It’s not good enough to rely on good luck or the fact that someone is experienced or hope they will always do the ‘right thing’.

“Legally and commercially no one can afford to take a punt with safety particularly in tight economic times. If you are, you’re asking for trouble.”

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06:56 am, Monday 23 February, 2009

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has accused a WA mining company of subjecting workers to an ill-planned evacuation, calling on WorkSafe WA to make a full investigation into the incident and to review the Company’s Safety Procedures.

As heavy rains hit, the workers had to be evacuated through raging floodwaters from the Cape Preston mine.

During the evacuation, workers were forced to board a Grader and feared they would slip off into the storm waters which were travelling at 30km/h through gullies and ravines.

The union claims there was plenty of warning time ahead of the storm front approaching, but the evacuation was left until it was too late. It says workers should have been bussed out safely earlier on.

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06:51 am, Monday 23 February, 2009

As South Australia’s annual grape harvest is about to commence, SafeWork SA is warning of an increased risk of injury to seasonal workers.

According to the authority, farmers and labour hire companies need to implement Appropriate Workplace Safety Systems before the work begins.

The risks associated with farms and vineyards are increased as hundreds of students, backpackers and professional pickers flock to work.

Both farmers and the labour hire agencies have a responsibility to ensure all reasonably practicable measures have and are being taken to protect workers’ health and safety.

The most common hazards faced by fruit pickers include being struck by Forklifts and Tractors,Falls From Heights, Manual Handling, Exposure To Chemicals, heat exhaustion, skin damage from sun exposure and fatigue.

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06:39 am, Monday 23 February, 2009

A Port Lincoln tuna processing company has been fined $15,000 for Inadequate Safety Systems which resulted in a worker injuring his foot.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to maintain safe systems of work.

An employee broke three bones in his right foot in May 2006, after being hit by a heavy fibreglass lid which had fallen from a tuna bin he was cleaning.

An investigation by WorkSafe SA found the worker had not been Adequately Trained and there was no hazard identification or risk assessment for the process of cleaning the tuna bins.

The company has since upgraded its safety procedures.

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06:36 am, Monday 23 February, 2009

The Electrical Safety Office has this week begun an investigation into an incident where an Ergon Energy worker received severe burns to a quarter of his body after an electric shock.

The man was part of a crew conducting line work. He and another worker were in the basket of acherry picker when it hit powerlines.

The injured man received an 11,000-volt shock. His colleague was uninjured.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the injured man was airlifted to the Royal Brisbane Hospital. He is now in a stable condition.

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09:17 am, Thursday 19 February, 2009

Worksafe WA has paid a visit to the site of Chinese mining company CITIC Pacific after it received a complaint about Transport Safety at the mine.

The mining company rejects claims by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union it put workers at risk by allowing up to 16 miners to Travel On A Grader at its Cape Preston mine in the Pilbara.

The Union says workers were loaded onto the grader while “raging floodwaters” blocked local roads on Monday. Recent heavy rainfall in the Pilbara has flooded some areas forcing the closure of roads and mining operations.

CITIC Pacific says a grader was used once only to move 30cms of water so that buses carrying shift workers could pass.

Workers were carried on the vehicle but Risk Assessments were done every step of the way, a company spokeswoman said.

“It is certainly not a common practice,” CITIC spokeswoman Shannon Garcia said.

“Obviously we like people to stay in buses…I guess this was a practical solution to ensure people crossed safely.

“We take the safety of our employees and contractors very seriously.”

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09:09 am, Thursday 19 February, 2009

WorkSafe Victoria is investigating the death this week of an 18 year-old man who was caught in a printing machine at a carton manufacturing plant in Thomastown.

The man’s clothing caught in rotating parts of the box-printing machine, dragging him into it head first.

His death brought to four the number of people killed in a Victorian workplace this year.

Worksafe executive director John Merritt said that every employer should be meeting with their staff about known or predictable safety issues, and then develop and act on a safety improvement plan.

“If you already have one – review it,” Mr Merritt said.

“If machines are unguarded, if people don’t have Appropriate Training, licensing or supervision and workers do not have the equipment needed to do their job safely – or if they’re not using it – those issues must be dealt with today.”

WorkSafe has issued notices ordering the company To Install Better Guards on the machine.

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