11:09 pm, Thursday 28 April, 2011

A WorkSafe investigation of building sites at Point Cook has revealed many are being left unsecured, causing safety concerns to residents.

The suburb is a major growth region in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Residents have expressed alarm at children seen playing on high scaffolding on unsecured construction sites.

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said inspectors visited 11 Point Cook building sites last week.

Mr Birt said 16 notices were issued – a formal legal direction to resolve an issue before work restarted.

More serious safety breaches could result in prosecution.

“What we need people to understand is they have a legal responsibility to keep their site safe,” Mr Birt said.

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09:04 pm, Wednesday 20 April, 2011

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is investigating the death of a 24-year old man was who crushed by a collapsing house during a building relocation.

The incident occurred yesterday at Bundaberg Airport where the man was part of a removalist crew lowering the building at the airport when a jack failed, causing the building to collapse on top of him.

The man, who was from Banyo, died on his way to hospital.

Bundaberg Police Superintendent Rowan Bond said the Bundaberg Aero Club had taken possession of the building, which had been moved to the new location on Friday.

The aero club had hired a team of contractors to relocate the building to the airport and were planning to refurbish it for members to use.

It sat on blocks until yesterday morning, when a crew began to lower it.

“Work had only just started lowering it down,” Supt Bond said.

The man, who was a sub-contractor, had only recently relocated to Bundaberg and commenced employment with the removal firm.

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06:57 am, Sunday 3 April, 2011

Every week, 70 Victorian construction workers are seriously injured and have to stop work. This is often because basic site safety is non-compliant.

These injuries might not be life-threatening, but they are painful, costly and the effects can be permanent, making it difficult to work in the future.

Construction workers may hurt their back or neck, tear a ligament, cut themselves or break a bone. On average, these injuries will keep them off the job for about 15 weeks. And it’s costing industry over $50 million a year.

Poor housekeeping is often to blame, causing one in every three injuries on Victoria’s building sites.

WorkSafe has launched a campaign to improve housekeeping and eliminate easily preventable and potentially career-changing injuries.

Cleaning up work areas as you go and keeping walkways and access points clear prevents injured backs and necks, ligament sprains, broken bones and cuts.

Inspectors will begin site visits as part of a six-month, state-wide ‘back to basics’ campaign.

Where Inspectors find that sites – including amenities (ie toilets and lunch rooms) are dangerous, untidy or unclean or where supervision is missing or inadequate, improvement notices will be issued.

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04:14 pm, Wednesday 30 March, 2011

A Mackay-based construction company has been fined $42,000 over a workplace accident in January last year, in which a worker suffered a fractured right leg at a subdivision at Eimeo.

Staff at the worksite had identified a risk in a general purpose telecommunications pit, known as a GPT pit, but failed to manage it, Crown Law prosecutor Mr Trajce Cvetkovski told the Industrial Magistrate’s Court in Mackay.

A wall of the 1.5 metre GPT pit collapsed while two workers were in it.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a safe workplace.

Mr Cvetkovski said there were no engineering controls at the excavation site and workers were in a hole which had water swirling around it.

There also was heavy earthmoving equipment in the area and a “sump pump” was being used to divert water from the pit.

Workers at the site were qualified, trained and experienced and there was some “benching” to support the pit wall but not any “shoring”, Mr Cullinane said. And workers had been working in and around the pit for about three weeks before the accident.

Industrial magistrate Damien Dwyer said: “The dangers were obvious.

“The risk should have been managed.

“The pit was there. The job was there. A supervisor told them (the two workers) to go down there. They did and one was injured.”

However, he said he accepted the company was a reputable firm and was very diligent overall as far as safety was concerned.

Since the accident the company has upgraded its safety procedures, including the introduction of extra toolbox meetings to identify risk and improve safety management and it has also introduced safety procedures for trenching.

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09:25 pm, Monday 28 March, 2011

The annual Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics Australia 2008–09 has been released by Safe Work Australia.

The report details the latest OHS statistics Australia-wide.  A summary of the key findings include:

There were 128 735 serious workers’ compensation claims in 2008–09.

Men were almost twice more likely to be injured than female employees. There were 8.8 serious claims per million hours worked by male employees, compared to 6.4 serious claims per million hours worked by female employees.

Employees in agriculture, forestry and fishing sustained the highest incidence rate of all industries: 25.2 serious claims per 1000 employees, nearly twice the national rate. Transport & storage employees experienced 25.0 serious claims per 1000 employees, while there were 23.4 in manufacturing and 21.8 in construction.

Two-thirds of all serious claims were the result of injury with sprains and strains of joints and adjacent muscles alone accounting for 43% of all serious claims.

Manual handling mechanisms (muscular stress while lifting objects and muscular stress while handling objects) resulted in 33% of all serious claims. Falls (from a height on the same level) accounted for 20% of all serious claims.

The back was the location on the body that was most often injured, accounting for 22% of all serious claims. Other common locations were hand, fingers and thumb (13%), shoulder (9%) and knee (9%).

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09:19 am, Friday 5 November, 2010

The SA Industrial Relations Court has fined a construction company after concrete panels collapsed at a building site in the northern suburbs.

According to SafeWork SA, the construction company placed its employee and others at risk over its unsafe lifting operation of a concrete panel.

The court was told a crane was being used to lift pre-cast concrete panels in Marc 2007 when the its outrigger came off its blocks. This caused the crane to topple, striking another concrete panel in the process.

SafeWork SA told the court that the company did not undertake an adequate risk assessment and hazard identification was, and that it failed to ensure the lift was within the crane’s working limits.

The company was convicted and fined $15,000 by Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie.

SafeWork SA said the construction sector must always take the dangers of working with tilt-up concrete panels into account.

“Because of the size and weight of these panels, there are often no second chances if one comes loose,” says SafeWork acting executive director, Bryan Russell.

“Extra safety procedures and precautions must always be in place when undertaking this type of work because the consequences of mistakes or oversights can be tragic and catastrophic.”

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05:46 pm, Thursday 28 October, 2010

SA Water has revealed in a parliamentary inquiry that 37 injuries have been recorded in connection with the construction of the Adelaide desalination plant.

The inquiry heard that in 27 of the cases medical treatment had been required. In seven cases, workers needed time off to recover.

The inquiry was also told that nine workers experienced electric jolts.

John Ringham, SA Water’s chief operating officer, said the death of a worker in July was regrettable. However, he said the company in charge of the construction site has a good safety record.

“I believe that the [construction company's] approach to safety on the site is among the best that I have seen and everybody who wishes to go on the site to work has to be inducted through the construction industry white card system. They have to be trained in safety,” Mr Ringham said.

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07:05 am, Monday 18 October, 2010

New regulations may be in the horizon for the construction industry as a result of a bridge collapse in August, ACT Work Safe says.

18 workers were injured when a bridge over the Barton Highway crashed during a concrete pour.

Federal Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten says they are looking to improve the current safety regulations.

“The Government’s realised that as a result of the bridge collapse there are too many loopholes in the legislation,” he said.

According to Mr Hall, several policy changes have been recommended, including an improved formwork code of practice.

“The ACT Government’s been in negotiations with us now and have made clear commitments to us around training, improving safety training for workers and also improving their tendering process to greater reflect the importance on safety,” he said.

ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said investigation into the bridge collapse is ongoing, but noted that the structure’s formwork may likely be the cause of the collapse.

“I think there’s a high chance we will look at at least adopting a code of practice in relation to formwork,” he said.

Mr McCabe said the authority is looking at how other jurisdictions regulate formwork.

“Although it really will be up to the Work Safety Council and what it recommends to the Minister.”

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08:12 am, Tuesday 12 October, 2010

WorkCover is investigating 14 NSW schools over safety breaches involving asbestos handling during construction work.

The authority has revealed that four notices were issued to the on-site contractor at a public school in Channon over licensing and administration issues involving asbestos removal.

Concerns were raised about the lack of transparency with the school’s students and their parents, considering the requirement under workplace health and safety regulations to inform all employees about workplace hazards.

A spokesman for the Department of Education and Training addressed the issue, stating that parents had been informed about the asbestos removal in a letter from the principal sent last February.

The principal said in the letter that work had performed during holidays to avoid any potential asbestos exposure, and that all protocols had been strictly complied with.

According to the spokesman, the department had a rigorous system for monitoring and removing asbestos. He assured concerned parties that “no student or staff member’s health was put at risk”.

“Under the department’s asbestos management plan, principals are responsible for ensuring that employees, contractors and consultants are suitably informed about the presence of asbestos,” he said.

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03:46 pm, Monday 4 October, 2010

WorkCover NSW has confirmed it has investigated allegations of improper asbestos handling at 94 schools since 2007.

Reports say asbestos handling violations have occurred at 14 government, Catholic and independent schools across New South Wales.

There were allegations that parent groups were not made aware about the violations. Many of the breaches allegedly occurred during construction work under the Building the Education Revolution program.

According to WorkCover, it had issued twelve notices to various contractors working within school grounds. In two schools, on the spot fines were imposed on contractors over their failure to follow proper  procedures or removing asbestos safely.

The Education Department said WorkCover was satisfied that asbestos was safely removed  after the notices were issued.

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