12:42 pm, Friday 26 March, 2010

THE CFMEU has released safety guidelines on working at heights and working with scaffolding, following the fatal fall of a worker in South Melbourne on 15 January 2010.

CFMEU said no work should be undertaken using cantilevered chariots, and no chariot should be used closer than three metres from any edge where a fall of two metres or greater exists.

Consistent with this safety policy, any work on balconies or edges of buildings should be done behind purpose-designed and engineered screens or with perimeter or external scaffolds.

Mobile scaffolds should be secured to the building or structure to prevent tipping over.

If none of these options are available, equipment and personnel should be restrained securely and prevented from falling.

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12:20 pm, Friday 26 March, 2010

The Education Queensland (EQ) says Cyclone Ului did not disturb asbestos particles at schools near Mackay, in the state’s north.

EQ central Queensland regional director Wayne Butler says trees damaged the buildings at Mackay North and Mirani state high schools, but the buildings did not contain asbestos.

Earlier this month, students and staff at both schools had to be evacuated after ceiling particles that may have contained asbestos fell into classrooms.

Mr Butler says the schools have been tested and are safe.

“In relation to Mirani State High School, a tree did fall against a building and knocked the eaves to the ground and those eaves have also been tested and there is no asbestos in those eaves.” he said.

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11:57 am, Friday 26 March, 2010

A Shepparton company has been fined after one of its employers suffered severe hand injuries while working with a machinery in 2007.

The Magistrate Court fined the plastics company $55,000 and ordered it to pay about $6,000 in costs.

The 2007 incident cost the 24-year-old worker four of his fingers and part of his thumb on his left hand when they were amputated by a machine at the Shepparton worksite.

The man’s hand got caught when the machine was activated unintentionally.

It was later found the machine’s guard was overridden while maintenance was being undertaken.

The court was told the man’s injury is devastating, and he cannot use his left hand properly.

The prosecutor for WorkSafe said there was a culture of overriding machines for maintenance at the plant.

However, the company’s lawyer said the directors were not aware of the safety practice.

The company was previously fined $30,000 when an employee was severely injured on a similar machine in 2002.

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01:48 pm, Tuesday 23 March, 2010

A 55-year-old man has been run over at a compost farm near Mildura yesterday morning.

The incident took place at a property in Meridian Road at Merbein where mushroom compost is stored.

It is reported the man was hit by a loader. He sustained crush injuries to his legs, shoulder injuries. The man was taken to the Mildura Base Hospital for treatment.

WorkSafe is looking into the industrial accident.

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01:35 pm, Tuesday 23 March, 2010

A new nationwide safety campaign by the country’s workplace safety authorities will focus on forklift safety in Australia’s grocery, fruit and vegetable wholesale industry.

Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA), the joint group of General Managers or representatives of bodies responsible for the regulation and administration of occupational health and safety in Australia and New Zealand, is spearheading the campaign.

The new project’s goal is to reduce the rates of incidents and injury from forklift-related tasks, including truck loading and unloading.

Inadequate safety procedure and practice regarding forklift operation can pose risks in worksites, and may lead to severe work-related injury or fatality to operators, those working around forklifts, and others in the workplaces concerned.

Official nationwide statistics provide that between 2000 to 2007, more than 7,400 work-related injuries involving forklift trucks were reported.

The national campaign will specifically look at the safety of forklift truck operations.

In particular, the campaign aims to stress the need for identifying hazards in workplaces systematically and carrying out sustainable control measures to minimise incidents of harm.

The campaign will kick off with a series of industry forums to explain the campaign and highlight the relevant issues.

A compliance campaign at targeted sites beginning April 2010 will then follow.

The outcomes and feedback from the workplace audits will then be collated and analysed.

The result of the campaign is planned to be released by the end of 2010.

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05:42 pm, Monday 22 March, 2010

Small businesses will gather tonight in Tamworth for a forum centering on safety issues in the workplace.

The small business advisory forum is in cooperation with WorkCover NSW. It is one of 10 being held in the state.

WorkCover’s Ian Eather says discussions like the one in Tamworth give small business owners an opportunity voice out their concerns about occupational health and safety issues concerning them.

Mr Eather adds the forum allows WorkCover to serve the needs of the local business community better.

“It’s a great way for the local business community to meet the business advisory officers that we have in Tamworth and for us to consult with people over their needs and how we can help them better,” he said.

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05:21 pm, Monday 22 March, 2010

The Midland Magistrates Court has fined an international freight company on Friday for a forklift incident in its Forrestfield site.

The court heard that in 2007, the company’s forklift struck a visitor’s car in the company’s property.

The company pleaded guilty on March 11 to failing to ensure a person’s safety. It was fined $10,000 for the infraction.

On January 12 2007, a man, a woman and two children went to the Forrestfield freight site to collect an item that had been freighted in by the company.

Under the firm’s worksite procedure, staff members should escort clients collecting goods to the proper location. The company would normally advise mobile plant operators of client arrivals through mobile radio.

However, at the time of the incident, a power failure had occurred and the radio was not working. The plant operators in the yard could not be advised through radio that clients were arriving.

The four people drove across the yard unescorted. As one of the four was getting out of the car, a container forklift under load struck the car.

It was later found that the forklift operator did not see the vehicle, since his visibility was reduced.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said it was fortunate that no one sustained serious injuries from the incident.

“However, the potential for serious harm and the risk of a collision when pedestrians and visitors enter a site used mainly by large mobile plan is obvious,” she said.

Ms Lyhne noted the company’s processes did not address situations where there was a risk due to power failure.

“It is clear that alternate measures should have been put in place. Having safe systems of work is one of the basic and most obvious means of minimising the risk of injury to workers or anybody else on site.

“All employers need to be aware of the need to ensure that workplaces are safe.”

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08:54 am, Monday 22 March, 2010

A sheet metal engineering company and its director have pleaded guilty in the Industrial Magistrates Court on Wednesday to failing to provide a safe working environment – plant & systems of work, and information, instruction, training & supervision.

The case stemmed from a 2 February 2009 incident, where an unlicenced dogman fell from height.

The Wodonga company’s employee acted as a dogman on a platform being raised by a mobile tractor crane at an excessive height when he fell to the ground.

He was taken later transported to a hospital by ambulance, where he underwent surgery to pin his right leg which was extensively damaged. He also suffered injury to his ribs and wounds to his right thigh and left elbow.

It was later found the crane did not have a safety hook, and was not maintained properly.

Aside from the dogman, it was also found that the operator of the crane at the time of the incident did not have a licence to undertake the work.

The company and its director knew crane operators need to be licenced, and that their employees did not possess such licence. They had decided to get employees trained after the job was complete as it would then be able to afford it.

Magistrate John Martin Murphy did not impose a fine when he determined the case on March 3. However, he ordered the firm and its director costs of $1,354.52 and $865.96, respectively.

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08:50 am, Monday 22 March, 2010

WorkSafe is pushing for improved workplace safety in child care centres and kindergartens to reduce the incidence of debilitating but preventable musculoskeletal injuries.

Injuries affecting the muscles and skeleton are usually caused by strains, sprains, slips, trips and falls.

Over 200 Victorian children’s services workers get hurt seriously enough to make a WorkSafe injury claim yearly. There may even be more unreported injuries, since they are considered to be ‘part of the job’.

According to WorkSafe Acting Executive Director Stan Krpan, the new campaign is a reminder that the staff’s health plays a pivotal role in providing quality care for children.

The injuries of the staff are mostly caused by everyday tasks, such as moving play equipment, lifting children and sitting on small chairs.

“Working with children can be hard work. The physical strain of lifting children, bending and sitting at child-sized furniture, working with toys underfoot can take its toll on the body,” Mr Krpan said.

“Add to that the need to lift and move heavy and bulky play equipment and work in storage areas stacked high with containers and toys that can topple from shelves and it is easy to see why the rate of these injuries is so high.

“There are safer ways of doing things in this environment. This is what we want employers to think about and talk to their staff about – now.”

As part of the campaign, WorkSafe is holding a safety draw, in which six centres will share in $15,000 worth of safety improvements and resources.

WorkSafe has also produced series of new ‘health and safety solutions’ that detail how to control the risks associated with six common hazardous tasks in children’s services.

For more information, go to worksafe.vic.gov.au/children.

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05:25 pm, Saturday 20 March, 2010

An engineering company has been fined $50,000 by the Brisbane Industrial Magistrate’s Court over an injury sustained by a 17-year-old apprentice.

The firm pleaded guilty on Thursday to failing in its workplace health and safety obligations.

On 29 August 2008, the young man was working at a Paget workshop in Michelmore Street, when he was pinned by the abdomen in a mining equipment for around 15 minutes.

His colleagues were able to free him before emergency crews arrived. He was later taken to the Mackay Base Hospital to have his injured chest and abdomen treated.

Fire-fighters were impressed by the apprentice’s co-workers’ response to the emergency.

“They did a really good job. They put some good protection in place so when they did move the machinery off him it didn’t hurt him further,” a senior firefighter said at the time.

The engineering firm had safety procedures in place when the accident happened, but has since modified its safety rules to cover the machinery specifically.

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