06:40 am, Thursday 26 March, 2009

A company has acknowledged the potential impact of a Workplace Health And Safetyfailings telling a magistrate contracts worth millions of dollars would be jeopardised if it was convicted.

Barry Bros Specialised Services Pty Limited pleaded guilty last week to one charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe system of work before Melbourne Magistrate Felicity Broughton.

The company was charged with having unsafe systems of work after a High-Pressure Cleaning Hose and restraining device failed during routine cleaning in the Burnley Tunnel on 3 June 2006.

A nearby employee of another company received serious leg injuries in the incident.

Barry Bros General Manager, Steven Pewtress, told the court a conviction would affect its capacity to tender for public sector work, which accounted for half its $50-million turnover.

WorkSafe argued that a conviction was warranted as the use of high-pressure hoses had inherent dangers and that having chosen to conduct such a business Barry Bros was responsible for ensuring work was conducted safely.

Barry Brothers was not convicted, but was fined $60,000. Magistrate Broughton said the firm took outstanding steps to improve safety after the incident, had demonstrated remorse and been of good character since it began in 1958.

Had it not pleaded guilty, she said, the company would have been convicted and fined it $80,000.

Barry Brothers operates in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia and was contracted by another company to carry out high pressure pipe cleaning services to flush drainage pipes under the Burnley Tunnel in Melbourne.

It engaged a third company, Total Gas Care Pty Ltd to use Closed Circuit Television to check the drains after which Barry Brothers’ employees would clean them.

The CCTV operator was a deemed employee of Barry Brothers.

A fitting connecting a high pressure water line to a control valve failed as did a device to restrain the high pressure water line during the water-jetting process.

The water line whipped around in an uncontrolled way hitting the CCTV operator’s lower left leg causing serious injuries, including a 15 centimetre wide open wound and a broken tibia. His other leg was also hurt.

Had Barry Brothers complied with the Australian Standard which requires an exclusion zone when operating high-pressure cleaning equipment and inducted the injured worker,  the injury would not have happened.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director John Merritt said that particularly in tightening economic times safety had to be a priority.

“It is an investment in the future and a fundamental part of doing business.

“If you don’t, as was said in this case, your business is at risk. Financial penalties imposed by the courts are only a small part of the financial impact that injuries and deaths create.

“It doesn’t matter if the people affected by your work are direct employees, contractors, other people working nearby or members of the public. Safety obligations are clear and have been in place, largely unchanged, for decades.

“Making safety improvement after the event is better than nothing, but not much consolation for the person who’s been hurt or their family.”

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07:31 am, Wednesday 25 March, 2009

Source: Work Safe

A County Court Judge has told a company director he would have to live with the shame of failing to ensure a Truck which killed a motorist had effective brakes.

In sentencing 59-year-old South Gippsland man Lance William Jobling, Judge Leo Hart said the May 2002 crash on the West Gate Freeway off ramp had left Jobling in dire financial circumstances, on medication and with post traumatic stress disorder. Mr Jobling was convicted and fined $20,000 and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid community work.

He pleaded guilty to three counts under the Occupational Health And Safety Act 1985.

At the time of the crash he was a director of Omega Resources Pty Ltd which mined and processed sand at Bass in South Gippsland,

The court was told the truck driven by one of Mr Jobling‘s drivers was travelling at 70 kph as it went down the off-ramp of the West Gate Freeway leading to Williamstown Road. The brakes were applied at the top of the ramp and were effective, but when they were applied again they did not respond. The truck and trailer went through a red light and collided with a Four Wheel Drive driven by father-of-three Jason Moore, 32.

The utility was then pushed into a bus and Mr Moore died. In handing down sentence Judge Hart said Mr Jobling was warned that the truck‘s brakes were not working properly and although steps were taken to fix them, the truck had not been taken off the road before the work was done.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director, John Merritt, said the smash should send a clear message to company directors in general and the transport industry in particular. “Company directors have clear responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, as do employers.

They must ensure they fulfil their obligations and act on information they have concerning safety. “In terms of the transport industry, this is the second major prosecution in as many months.” Canberra Transport company, Allbulk Landscaping Supplies Pty Ltd, was convicted and fined a total of $130,000 at the Shepparton County Court on March 24 after pleading guilty to two Occupational Health and Safety Act charges after a crash near Cobram killed four people.

The truck’s driver was gaoled, but the company was charged as it required the driver to work excessive hours without adequate breaks. (See WorkSafe media release March 24, 2006). “Our message to these people is that they will be held accountable in the event of a serious safety incident or when they are visited by WorkSafe.

“While most in the industry are striving to meet their legal and moral obligations some do not. “Failing to ensure trucks are properly maintained puts drivers and other members of the public at risk. If you cannot carry out this basic task, you should not let your vehicles on the road.

“No one should have to go through what Mr Moore’s family has. No one needs to go through a lengthy and expensive investigation and court case.” The charges: Lance Jobling was charged under Sections 52(1) and 21(1) & (2)(a) and 22 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 s52 Offences by bodies corporate (1) Where an offence against this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any wilful neglect on the part of, an officer of the body corporate or person purporting to act as such an officer, that officer or person is also guilty of that offence and liable to the penalty for that offence.

s21 Duties of employers (1) An employer shall provide and maintain so far as is practicable for employees a working environment that is safe and without risks to health. (2) Without in any way limiting the generality of sub-section (1), an employer contravenes that sub-section if the employer fails— (a) to provide and maintain plant and systems of work that are so far as is practicable safe and without risks to health.

s22 Duties of employers and self-employed persons Every employer and every self-employed person shall ensure so far as is practicable that persons (other than the employees of the employer or self-employed person) are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the undertaking of the employer or self-employed person.

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07:36 am, Tuesday 24 March, 2009

Source: The Daily

A man has been killed in an accident at an isolated property in central Queensland.

Police said the man, aged in his 20s, had been helping move a Concrete Water Trough when the accident happened.

He died on the property near Springsure, 250km west of Rockhampton, on Friday afternoon.

No further details were available.

Police and Workplace Health And Safety officials are investigating.

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07:22 am, Tuesday 24 March, 2009

The road freight Transport Industry has joined WorkSafe Victoria to help develop a strategy and action plan to improve Workplace Health And Safety.

“As part of our continued focus on road freight transport, we are telling the industry to take responsibility for its actions,” WorkSafe’s Manufacturing Logistics and Agriculture Program Director, Ross Pilkington said.

“We want to work closely to support them through the process, but a higher level of engagement is needed.”

Research undertaken to help understand ‘barriers to safety’ is being used by WorkSafe and the newly formed Transport Industry Alliance.

The Alliance will build on the work already done by the Transport Industry Safety Group, which develops industry programs and resources identified by coronial enquiries.

“Road freight transport is one of Australia’s highest-risk industries with around 1200 workplace injury claims, in Victoria alone, every year.

Falls From Trucks and being hit by moving objects are the major causes of injury,” Mr Pilkington said.

“What concerns us most is that despite the work we have done with the industry over the past five years, there has been little improvement in the number of injuries occurring.”

There have also been a number of fatalities over the past two years, including:

• A truck driver who died after swallowing diesel he was syphoning after his truck ran out of fuel;
• A truck driver run over by his truck on a construction site
• A man crushed while doing maintenance work on a street sweeper
• A truck driver who died from head injuries. He was found near the passenger side of his prime mover
• A crane truck driver crushed while removing steel coil from a semi-trailer

“Just before Christmas, two people died when they were run over by trucks at work. One of them was a 17-year-old apprentice.”

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07:37 am, Monday 23 March, 2009

SafeWork SA is investigating the death of a driver at a car dealership in the Riverland district last week.

The incident occurred while a car-carrier driver was Unloading Motor Vehicles at the car yard.

During this task, the man released a tie-down strap and cast it clear of the trailer. The strap came into contact with a hydraulic lever controlling the loading ramp.

This caused the loading ramp to activate, crushing the driver between the ramp and the vehicle being unloaded.

He sustained serious injuries and died in hospital.

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07:31 am, Monday 23 March, 2009

SafeWork SA is investigating an incident at a Construction Site in Adelaide last week after equipment fell from a 13-storey building.

A worker had been using a wheeled device to tip sand from a large bin into a skip on the 13th floor of the building.

The device and its bin rolled free and broke through the fall protection barriers on the floor. Both pieces of equipment then fell 13 storeys, hitting hoardings above a ground-level walkway.

The wheeled tipping device bounced onto the street, while the bin fell into the construction site.

No one was injured.

SafeWork is examining the equipment to determine what relevant safety procedures and precautions were in place for the task being performed.

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07:22 am, Monday 23 March, 2009

A landmark overseas ruling could lead to compensation for Victorian women who suffer breast cancer after working extended nightshifts.

The Danish government awarded payouts to almost 40 air cabin crew, nurses and soldiers after the World Health Organisation ruled working at night might have caused their breast cancer.

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer suggests nightshift disrupts production of melatonin, a hormone that keeps breast tumours in check.

Previous studies show breast tumours grow roughly twice as quickly as normal when exposed to blood with low melatonin levels.

The Danish government is the first in the world to classify breast cancer among shiftworkers as an industrial injury.

But Australian cancer experts say the link is not strong enough to spur a public health campaign.

Prof Bernard Stewart, scientific adviser to Cancer Council Australia, said studies of nurses and flight attendants have shown an increased risk of cancer.

However, he said that whilst the evidence was quite substantial, it fell short of being definitive.

But an argument could be made for Nightshift Causing A Work-Related Disease under Victorian law, where female workers need only prove the shift-work was a significant contributing factor, not necessarily the principal cause of the cancer.

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07:30 am, Friday 20 March, 2009

Source: The West

The Australian Worker’s Union want BHP Billiton’s total WA operations closed down and an independent audit conducted following the death of a worker at a Pilbara mine site overnight.

A 45-year-old NSW man died after falling 12 metres from machinery at a mining Construction Sitenear Newman this morning.

The accident occurred at a John Holland-run construction site, which is part of BHP Billiton’s iron ore Newman Hub site.

The workers at the Pilbara mine site where the scaffolder was killed are in a meeting this afternoon with union officials, as workers walk off the job at affiliated construction sites across WA.

AWU WA secretary Stephen Price said while this death did not involve a direct employee of BHP, it was too easy for the mining giant to distance itself and blame the contractor for the accident.

“We called for a shutdown and an independent Audit back in September and again recently when a track maintenance worker was killed,” Mr Price said.

“The AWU has continually raised our concern about workers being too scared to speak up about safety issues, for fear of reprisal.

“BHP has lost touch with the working environment that their employees, and employees working for contractors on BHP’s behalf, have to accept as part of their employment conditions.

“It’s easy enough to have all the policies on the wall, but they are not worth the paper they are written on if that corporate approach to safety is not the same as the one of the shop floor.”

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union assistant secretary Joe McDonald said John Holland workers at two South-West and four metropolitan sites walked off the job today as a sign of respect for the killed worker.

The death is the second nationally for John Holland in twelve months and the fifth for BHP Billiton in the last nine months.

Mr McDonald said the situation for workers in the North-West was becoming “hellish” and he was furious union officials were not allowed onto the John Holland site.

“It’s getting to the stage where people go to the North-West in an aeroplane and come back in a coffin,” Mr McDonald said.

“Our phones have been running hot about the state of the job up there, if they’ve got nothing to hide they should open the door and let the unions on the job to investigate.

“All unions can get onto the Hub project but they can’t get on to the John Holland section of it because there’s no union agreement. They do this to keep the unions out.

“They’re more interested in making money than the people who work for them. Now we’ve had another death and I think it’s outrageous and John Holland should be held accountable for what they’ve done.”

Mr McDonald said the CFMEU would be calling for a full investigation.

A police spokesman said the man was taken to Newman Hospital just after 3am and later died.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Mines and Petroleum said an investigation was now underway.

“We have inspectors on the way, they will be on site this morning to secure the site and undertake an investigation,” she said.

In a statement released this morning, John Holland said construction work at the site had been suspended.

“Our deepest sympathies are with the employee’s family and work colleagues at this time and support is being provided,” the statement said.

“John Holland has mobilised its incident response team and is co-operating with the relevant authorities.

“The safety of all involved is our top priority.

“Construction work has been suspended at the Newman Hub construction site.”

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07:48 am, Thursday 19 March, 2009

Source: NineMSN

Nearly half of all employers fear Labor’s new Industrial laws will lead to job losses and higher business costs, a new survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says.

ACCI chief executive Peter Anderson says negotiations in the Senate on changes to the government’s Fair Work bill are crucial to jobs.

The talks centre on unfair dismissal laws and how they will apply to small business, as well as Family First Senator Steve Fielding’s claim that small business should be exempt altogether from large parts of the bill.

Mr Anderson said the chamber’s survey of investor confidence found 47 per cent of small business owners believe the Fair Work bill will weaken their ability to maintain current employment levels.

More than half, 54 per cent, believe removing the current exemption for small businesses employing fewer than 100 staff from unfair dismissal laws will dissuade them from employing more staff.

The government proposes to redefine small businesses as those employing fewer than 15 workers.

“There has a been a strong case for moderating the government’s industrial relations changes for some time, especially since the economic downturn hit our shores,” Mr Anderson said in a statement.

“This latest survey evidence is a reminder that there are very serious and practical impacts to jobs flowing from the decisions the Senate makes about the shape of our employment laws.”

The government also wants unfair dismissal laws applied at small businesses with 15 or more staff for employees who have put in at least six months’ service.

It also wants unfair dismissal protection at businesses with fewer than 15 staff for workers employed for at least 12 months.

Mr Anderson said the survey also found that nearly 60 per cent of business owners believe the Fair Work bill overall will have a negative impact on business operating costs.

With negotiations continuing between the government and crossbench senators, independent Nick Xenophon wants the definition of small business to be 20 employees, while the opposition wants a definition of 25 full-time equivalent staff.

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07:42 am, Thursday 19 March, 2009

Source: Northern Star

A Lismore man is on life support and another man in a serious condition in hospital after two Workplace Accidents this week.

Bob Day, a father-of-two in his 50s, fell five metres to the ground when Scaffolding Supporting A Building Platform at the Byron Bay Arts and Industry Estate collapsed on Tuesday.

And police said a 66-year-old man suffered a head injury yesterday morning when he Fell From The Roof of Hitchens Storage at Smith Drive, West Ballina, while repairing damage caused by Monday’s storm.

Mr Day was one of 25 workers Painting the new Brookfarm Building in Banskia Drive.

His employer, Tony Durheim, said he was shocked by the accident.

“I’d left the site and was about 20 metres up the road when I had a call and was told, ‘Bob’s had a fall’,” he said.

Mr Day was taken to the Gold Coast Hospital with a broken leg, dislocated hip, punctured lung and eight broken ribs.

He was put in an induced coma and then on life support.

The scaffolding had been erected by a licensed scaffolder, but it is understood Mr Day was not wearing a harness because ‘he was not required to’.

A spokeswoman from WorkCover confirmed they were investigating.

“A WorkCover officer was sent to Byron Bay to look at the site,” she said. “The investigation will take as long as it takes – we want to be thorough.”

Police and WorkCover are also investigating the West Ballina accident. Police last night said the 66-year-old had been transferred to a Gold Coast hospital, where he remained in a serious condition.

The Byron Bay incident comes after a man fell to his death and another was left hanging 20 metres above the ground when a Sydney work platform collapsed this month.

Weeks before that, there was another major scaffolding collapse in Sydney’s CBD, but no one was injured.

Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union occupational health and safety co-ordinator, Rick Rech, said he was appalled by the number of scaffolding incidents.

“It has been happening a lot,” he said. “But it’s going to happen even more because the NSW Government is diluting the safety legislation.”

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