08:21 pm, Friday 24 September, 2010

A construction company has been fined close to $20,000 by the SA Industrial Court yesterday over a worksite fire in 2008.

Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie heard a worker was construction site in South Australia in March 2008 when sparks set the dry grass in the premises ablaze.

It then developed into a landscape fire, engulfing a brush fence and a neighbouring home.

Magistrate Ardlie said a man was sleeping inside the house during the conflagration.

“Fortunately that resident was alerted to the fire by the workmen on the site and avoided injury,” he said.

“Nevertheless, he was put at risk.”

He said the work site had fire extinguishers, but they were locked up.

The company was fined $18,750 after admitting breaching workplace safety regulations.

Magistrate Ardlie noted that it had already given away $40,000 to the home owner, nearby property owners and a building contractor by way of compensation.

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08:06 am, Monday 13 September, 2010

New NSW rules requiring people who want to renovate their homes to undergo a rigorous training are expected cut the number of owner-builders by half.

The new rules, which will take effect next month, will require home renovators to undergo face-to-face training and learn a 700-page training course.

The NSW Office of Fair Trading currently issues around 1000 permits each month to people who have paid about $100 to take a 4-hour training course online.

Under the new rules, it is estimated the safety training will take at least a week to finish and the cost will balloon to $800.

David Bare, NSW Housing Industry Association’s executive director, said rules needed to be changed to reduce high accident rates on builder-owner safety standards as his members.

According to a Fair Trading spokesman, the course will be implemented due to deaths on owner-builder sites. He said there is also evidence from WorkCover that owner-builders were failing to comply with safety and fair trading laws.

In contrast, some other states do not require owner-builders to take any course before being given their permit.

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06:50 pm, Wednesday 11 August, 2010

A civil construction company and its manager have pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety following the death of an employee.

The Hobart Magistrates Court was told a 65-year-old worker was crushed by a 30-tonne prime mover last year while working in Glenorchy.

The court hear workers were moving an loaded on to the prime mover when its brakes failed.

The truck crushed the worker when it moved down an incline and on to the man.

The worker’s daughter testified on Monday, telling the court her world has been turned upside down by the incident.

The manager and the company expressed deep regret to the man’s relatives, adding the worker was greatly admired.

The court will hand down the sentence next week.

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07:35 am, Wednesday 30 June, 2010

The Fremantle Magistrates Court has fined a residential construction work was going on. The crane narrowly missed other workers in the site.

The crane operator pleaded guilty to failing to endure his safety and the safety of others. He was fined $8000 by the court.

The incident took place in March 2009 in a construction site where a two-storey house was being built.

The defendant was driving a crane to the site and set up the crane with its outrigger on soft sand and the front jack on a pile of bricks.

The dogman wanted to make sure the crane could reach the necessary position, so he asked defendant to do a trial run without any attached load.

The supports collapsed under the crane while the defendant was doing the practice run. The machine tipped over onto its right side and came to rest on the building and scaffolding.

The crane did not hit any worker, although one had to run to avoid the falling crane.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne stresses the importance of safety procedures around machinery such as cranes.

“Setting up a crane on a solid foundation is one of the fundamental principals of crane operation, but one that was not observed in this case,” she said.

“The crane operator placed himself and another four employees in danger of being injured or even killed by the crane when it fell. If the crane had been loaded, the danger would have been even greater.

“This case should serve as a reminder that employers have an obligation to ensure that cranes are operated in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions at all times.”

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01:16 pm, Wednesday 16 June, 2010

The Rockingham Magistrates Court has fined a flooring company on June 10 over injuries suffered by a sub-contractor after falling through an unprotected stairwell.

The company pleaded guilty after failing to provide edge protection on the building site in Rockingham. It was fined $4000 by the Court.

The Court heard a private residence was being constructed in Rockingham in July 2007. The main install wooden tiling on the home’s second storey floor.

The defendant’s sub-contractor climbed up the second storey through an internal stairwell without edge protection at the top, joining a working at height.

The sub-contractor was in the process of laying the wooden flooring near the unprotected stairwell edge when he fell 2.4 metres to the ground floor.

As a result of the fall, the man suffered a cracked pelvis and a fractured vertebra.

According to WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne, the building company has already been prosecuted over the incident.

She said the defendant was also considered responsible because it had the means to limit access to the dangerous work area.

“It’s really disappointing to see a lack of fall protection in workplaces because falls are readily preventable and it need not be difficult or costly to ensure that suitable barriers or fall arrest systems are organised before a tragedy can occur,” Ms Lyhne said.

“Falls are one of the most significant causes of workplace death in the construction industry, and ten Western Australian workers have died in less than three years as a result of falls. A further 1295 are injured each year, many seriously and permanently.

“Edge protection had earlier been used around the stairwell, but it had been removed to make it easier to install the wooden flooring.

“It would have been practicable to have used another method of fall protection that would not have interfered with the work being performed.

“As it was, the unprotected void was a disaster waiting to happen, and unfortunately it did.

“Plenty of information is readily available on the prevention of falls, and I would expect any company involved in construction to be acutely aware of the need to prevent falls.

“This case is also a good demonstration of the fact that safety is the responsibility of anyone who has the ability to influence the work done.

“A code of practice on fall prevention has existed in WA for the past 19 years, with the original code being initiated in response to the number of fatalities being recorded in the construction industry at that time.

“The current code is comprehensive – providing information on the identification of common fall hazards and the use of fall arrest equipment – and I urge all employers with workplaces that may contain fall hazards to ensure copies of the code are readily available at their workplaces.”

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01:55 pm, Saturday 5 June, 2010

WorkSafe is reminding everyone working at height not to resort to shortcuts when it comes to safety.

The call comes after a workplace incident on Thursday at a building site in NorthCote, Melbourne where a construction worker fell a few metres to the ground.

The 59-year-old man is currently on life support in an induced coma because of the three-metre fall.

WorkSafe inspectors who visited the building site believe the worker was balanced on a loosely secured plank of wood when he fell.

The June 3 incident is the second significant fall in the state this week – on Tuesday, a man pruning a tree at a camping site a Bridge Creek suffered was seriously hurt after falling 15 metres.

“Construction is one of the fastest growing industries in Victoria – and falls from height are one of our biggest workplace killers,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Construction and Utilities Director Chris Webb said.

“Cutting corners on health and safety is a particular concern in the domestic construction industry, where you’ve got smaller operators under pressure to meet tight deadlines.

“If you’re taking shortcuts by using make-shift work platforms and not using fall protection, you’re endangering your life.

“Even if the work is only going to take five minutes, you have to have some means of protecting yourself. Given the availability of cheap, fit-for-purpose, work platforms, there’s no excuse for cutting corners and using make-shift alternatives.

“People think they’re going to save themselves time by just getting in there and finishing the job. It goes without saying that getting the job done isn’t as important as protecting yourself and your workers from serious injury or death,” Mr Webb said.

Six fatalities have been reported across the state due to falls from height since 2009.

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02:18 pm, Thursday 20 May, 2010

Slips, trips and falls in the residential construction industry have led to mounting medical costs for the community each year, WorkSafe Victoria says.

People who worked as carpenters.

In an effort to improve residential construction site safety, WorkSafe has launched a new campaign to reduce the incidents of injuries in the industry.

“Slips, trips and falls at work are one of the leading causes of sprains and strains, also known as musculoskeletal injuries,” Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Stan Krpan said.

“These injuries can have a long-term effect – which not only means paying for more time off work or treatment for workers; it also puts pressure on businesses through added business costs.

“Domestic construction companies have to think much more carefully about safety versus productivity.

“Losing a worker through a slip or fall will not only mean lost productivity for your business, you’ll also have to cover lost labour and maybe even train new workers.

“We’re urging construction workers and their employers to stop, step back, and think about safety when planning, working on and completing every job.

“This is about planning your projects and site layout, setting up your site, and ensuring your site is safe for each trade coming through.

“Improvising on the job, or taking short-cuts to get the work done, is only going to compromise your own health and safety,” he said.

The campaign gets the support of television host Scott Cam. Scott, who is a co-host of Domestic Blitz, started working as a carpenter and remains passionate about the industry.

“As a business owner and a tradie, I know how important it is that we all work together to keep each other safe,” Scott said.

“Simple things like keeping a clean site and not improvising with tools and equipment can have a big impact on safety.

“While I have seen safety standards improve since I started my apprenticeship, there are still too many tradies being injured at work. If I can play even a small role in lowering the number of injuries, I’ll be happy.”

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