06:38 pm, Tuesday 24 November, 2009

The ACT Greens have asked for a shake-up of the WorkCover amidst its poor performance in recent months.

WorkCover has received criticisms following the safety scares at the Mitchell Resource Centre and the Gungahlin Drive Extension. It was found that basic Safework Procedures at the two projects were not being implemented

Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan said the laws covering Occupational Health And Safety Systems are progressive. However, she said WorkCover must be more responsive, and that enforcement of the laws must be improved.

“There are some concerns about its capacity to handle workplace health and safety complaints,” she said.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the criticisms leveled against WorkCover was unfair.

The Government decided to review WorkCover last month to ensure that the new Work Safety Act can be enforced effectively by the safety watchdog.

Mr Corbell said the review will help determine whether WorkCover needs to have its structure changed or its funding increased.

“That’s why I’ve commissioned this review, I did that on my own initiative,” he said.

“That review is now well underway and that will give us the tools we need and the information we need to make sure WorkCover can do its job properly.”

The Government said the review will be finished by the end of the year.

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06:38 pm, Tuesday 24 November, 2009

Conlay Constructions Pty Ltd has been fined and convicted by the Industrial Magistrate over serious injuries suffered by a worker resulting from a fall.

The worker was left permanently incapacitated due to multiple injuries sustained. The Adelaide carpentry and joinery contractor entered a guilty plea for the lapse in Safety Procedures.

In March 2007 a 23-year-old carpenter’s assistant was Working At Height. While fixing some nails on the rafters in the loft of the house, he fell three metres from an unguarded stairwell void through the gap onto concrete below.

The Industrial Magistrate found that the worker suffered serious multiple injuries, including multiple skull fractures, fractured vertebrae, haemorrhaging, severe physical, sensory and cognitive impairment and significant damage to the brain.

Mr Lietschke observed that the injuries suffered by the man was “devastating.”

“[H]e can no longer live independently, will never work again, cannot drive, and has limited ability to interact with other people. He requires 24 hour care,” the magistrate said.

SafeWork SA said that a fall protection that was set up had been removed prior to the accident.

Mr Lietschke noted that no temporary safety barrier was installed which could have prevented the fall.

“It was forseeable that a risk of injury from falling was created as soon as the temporary barriers had been removed and while an employee was still expected to perform some activities in the loft area,” he said.

The Industrial Court imposed a $25,000 fine. It also ordered the Construction Company to pay a $10,000 compensation to the worker’s mother.

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06:38 pm, Tuesday 24 November, 2009

Northern Territory mining operators have confirmed the death of one worker in a Vehicle-Related Accident on Monday.

HWE Mining and Newmont Asia Pacific, the companies running the gold mine northwest of Alice Springs, said investigation on the accident is now ongoing.

Sergeant Rudy Jamieson says police in Yuendumu, about 300 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs, received a call at 1am to report the death of the worker at the mine.

Initial investigations reveal that the man was injured in an underground incident when a truck reversed into him. He died of a heart attack at the mine’s medical centre after the accident occurred.

Sergeant Jamison said arrangements to return the man’s body back to Darwin have been made.

Operations at the gold mine have been suspended since the worker’s demise.

HWE Mining and Newmont Asia Pacific said counselling has been offered to their employees.

The incident has been reported to NT Worksafe for possible breach in Safework Procedures.

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06:38 pm, Tuesday 24 November, 2009

A worker has died on Monday after being hit and run over by a reversing tractor’s trailer at Werribee.

The Unloading Of The Trailer was underway when the accident happened at 12.30 pm.

The farm worker died at the scene.

WorkSafe Executive Director John Merritt said the accident serves as a powerful message to all employees and employers.

“Do everything humanly possible to prevent incidents like this happening,” Mr Merritt said.

“In particular, with harvesting going on in many areas, it is essential that employers, contractors and labour hire firms ensure people are not put at risk.”

The Executive Director said legal responsibilities to put Safety Systems in place lie upon employers. He added that employers must make sure that these systems are known and used by everyone in the workplace.

Pertaining to the Vehicle Accident, Mr Merritt said, “Separation of pedestrians and moving vehicles is essential.”

“Without this approach the dangers of farm work are magnified, particularly at this time of year when farming activity is at a high level in many areas.”

The Territory’s workplace death toll for 2009 is unusually high, particularly for the farming sector.

The accident is the seventh farm-related death in 2009, which is more than the past two years combined.

The Monday farm incident also marks the third work-related death for the month of November. It is the eighth since the start of October and the 26th this year.

“Apart from the deaths there are also many incidents where the person in simply lucky to be alive,” Mr Merritt said.

Mr Merritt said other industries must take heed of the accident, especially as a busy pre-Christmas period was looming.

“Whether you’re in retail, hospitality or the Transport Industry and building-up to an end-of-year rush or Construction & manufacturing and heading toward deadlines, the time to make safety improvements is before someone is hurt,” he said.

“This is a period where high risks abound. The last thing anyone needs at a busy time is to deal with a preventable crisis.”

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06:38 pm, Monday 23 November, 2009

An explosion and a fire in a Geelong carpet factory has led to the evacuation of fifty workers.

Staff of Breakwater’s Godfrey Hirst Carpets were Loading Bitumen from a semi-trailer into a storage truck at around 9am on Wednesday. Hot tar that was being poured into the tank while it was being cleaned triggered the explosion.

Fire officer Mick McGuinness said fifty workers were promptly evacuated to a safer location. He noted that it was lucky the tank was just a quarter full.

“The explosion could have been a lot worse if the tank was full and spewed out hot bitumen into the loading dock, which would caused hot material to spread,” he said.

Mr McGuinness said the bitumen, when heated at 200C, was used as the backing on carpet tiles. He added that fire crews monitored the tank and truck while the fire self extinguished.

Fire crews feared that another blast could spread the fire to neighboring homes. The truck was moved away from the manufacturing building to ensure that no more explosions would occur.

There were no injuries reported. The tank was damaged and would need to be refitted.

WorkSafe investigators attended the Fellmongers Rd site and were investigating whether Safework Procedures are in place.

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06:38 pm, Monday 23 November, 2009

Farm owners have pleaded guilty before the Industrial magistrate for a 2006 workplace accident which paralysed a farmhand.

Kevin Pratt, Mardi Pratt, Robert Pratt and Kathleen Cooper were found to have violated the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act. Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke ruled the owners failed to ensure the safety of an employee. He also found that the operators were remiss in providing anOccupational Health And Safety System.

In 2006 a farmhand in his early 20s was working on a large stock crate that was borrowed from a neighbor. In order to lower a ramp within the crate, the man had to Operate A Winch. He had to stand on a 3 metre-high platform to reach the manual winch.

During this task, the winch handle forcefully struck the farmhand in the face. He fell from the platform three metres to the ground.

As a result of the incident, the man suffered spinal damages, which left him paralysed. He also suffered loss of sight in the right eye and fractures in the skull.

The farmhand has resumed his work since the incident. The operators have made substantial modifications to the work environment and equipment in order to make the man’s work easier.

Mr Lieschke fined the farm owners a total of $28,000, although he noted the extensive safety precautions across the farm’s operations, and the fact that the employers had even sent the worker on a Safety Training before the accident.

“While (they) believed they were being comprehensive in their safety improvements, they appear not to have given the same attention to the stock crate as to their own plant and equipment, probably because it was occasionally borrowed to them,” he said.

“…I must take into account that there was a risk of fatality, and that the risks of being struck and of falling were foreseeable had an adequate risk assessment been undertaken. The risk of the operator being hit by the handle was raised by (a warning sticker on the arm of the winch handle) but was not addressed by the employer.”

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06:38 pm, Friday 20 November, 2009

A 16-year-old boy was working on a roof of a house in Stanwell when died from an electric shock on Wednesday.

The teenager was installing ceiling insulation in a Cocks Road home, southwest of Rockhampton, when the accident happened.

It is believed the boy was electrocuted when he used a metal rod to poke insulation into place. The home owner immediately disconnected the power from the house, as two co-workers tried to revive the electrocuted teenager.

A Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said Ambulance officers arrived at the scene a few minutes after the incident. They continued resuscitating the teenager for forty minutes, to no avail.

The spokeswoman said a second person received a minor shock. He was taken to Rockhampton Base Hospital and is now in stable condition.

The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) called for a suspension of all ceiling insulation works until after newSafety Procedures are implemented.

Master Electricians chief executive Malcolm Richards said his organisation will determine whether aJob Safety Analysis was made by the boy’s employer before work began.

“We need the insulation installers themselves to take some responsibility to make sure that their businesses are run safely,” Mr Richards said.

“I’m worried there’s going to be more deaths from this program.”

The incident follows the death of an insulation installer in Queensland last October. A second man also received an electric shock in that accident.

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06:38 pm, Thursday 19 November, 2009

2009 has not been good for Victoria in terms of work-related fatalities. The death of a worker near Mansfield last week marks the 25th workplace-related casualty for 2009, the highest number for Victoria since 2001.

Two deaths have been recorded for the month of November, while five have been reported for October. The seven workplace deaths have already matched the figure recorded for the last quarter of 2008.

The alarming statistic has prompted WorkSafe to remind employers and employees alike to take a zero-tolerance approach to Safety Practices for the rest of the year.

WorkSafe Executive Director John Merritt said the last few weeks of the year put at risk people who needed to get work finished before holidays or who were building-up to the busiest time of year.

‘Whether you’re in construction where jobs have to be finished before a lengthy summer shutdown or retailing, warehousing and road transport which are becoming increasingly busy, now is the time to ensure high safety standards are applied,’ Mr Merritt said.

‘Twenty-five deaths and many more major incidents is too many.’

WorkSafe is currently investigating a fatality involving a 48-year-old man who was delivering turf to a home near Lake Eildon.

He was operating a Forklift on inclined ground when the machine tipped backwards. He was hit by the mast which swung back and hit him. He was killed at the scene.

Over a week ago a 42-year-old man fell from a roof while installing cables for a TV antenna on a house in Tullamarine. He died as a result of the 2.5-metre fall.

Mr Merritt noted that the seven deaths in the past two months were indications that efforts should be increased to make workplaces safer.

‘Safety is principally the responsibility of employers and it’s WorkSafe’s job to enforce the law. We take that responsibility seriously and expect others to do the same,’ the WorkSafe head said.

‘Unless a tougher-minded approach is taken to safety at the business level our death and injury toll will continue to spiral upwards at the cost of the entire community.’

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06:38 pm, Thursday 19 November, 2009

Two companies have been charged following the drowning of a child at a recreational area at the Bedford Weir on the Mackenzie River near Blackwater last year.

Workplace Health and Safety has completed the investigation on the incident in Central Queensland, and is preparing for the hearing before the Blackwater Industrial Magistrates Court next month.

4-year-old Nelani Koefar died last November as she was swept away by a rush of water when an inflatable rubber dam device failed.

Trelleborg Engineering Systems Australia and SunWater Limited are facing charges in violation of theWorkplace Health And Safety Act.

Debbie Koefer, Nelani’s grandmother, said her family is struggling to deal with the Nelani’s death.

“Had everything gone the way it should’ve gone, this accident should never have happened,” she said.

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06:38 pm, Wednesday 18 November, 2009

An Industrial Magistrate has convicted and fined a manufacturing company over dangerousWork Practices that resulted in serious injuries to its workers.

Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie imposed a $30,000 fine on Forbes Pty Ltd, a pressure equipment manufacturer, making products such as boilers and air compressor units.

The company has pleaded guilty,admitting its failure to provide a safe working environment.

SafeWork SA prosecuted Forbes following a June 2007 incident in the companys West Croydon premises. During the incident, three labourers were working on a larger pressure vessel, painting its inside surface.

The paint was poured and the vessel was rotated in order for the inner surface to be covered. But in doing so, flammable vapours were built up, which were released in the premises when the vessels flange was opened.

It was later found that a worker lit a cigarette lighter, igniting the fumes from the pressure vessel. Two workers were injured, with one suffering severe burns to 25 percent of his body.

The industrial management has found the company to have inadequate Safework Practices. Mr Ardlie said the employer failed to post signages in the workplace or to warn, instruct or train employees about the dangers of working Hazardous Substances. The company also failed to have appropriate barriers installed.

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