11:58 am, Wednesday 17 August, 2011

According to figures released by WorkCover Tasmania this week, workplace injuries are on the rise in Tasmania.

A total of 9721 people were hurt at work in 2010 – up five per cent on the previous year.

About half of the injuries were traumatic joint, ligament, muscle and tendon injuries and about 70 per cent of those were soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains.

Wounds, lacerations, amputations and internal organ damage made up 23 per cent of all injuries.

Falls, trips and slips caused 1922 injuries, collisions with moving objects 1844 injuries and body stressing 3453 injuries.

The figures have been released as part of the launch of the WorkSafe Tasmania Month, a statewide program of free workplace safety training activities.

WorkCover Tasmania board member Kevin Harkins said the figures showed a worrying increase.

“These alarming figures highlight the need for all Tasmanian employers and workers to be vigilant in order to avoid becoming one of these injury statistics,” Mr Harkins said.

Burn injuries also were increasing and this had prompted a new fire extinguisher course at the safety workshop.

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08:48 pm, Wednesday 13 July, 2011

A Melbourne prostitute who was assaulted by a client for refusing to have unprotected sex intends to sue her former brothel for failing to provide a safe workplace.

The woman claims the brothel failed to protect her.  She was assaulted in August last year when she refused to have sex with a client without a condom. She said her refusal caused the man to attempt to rape her. Although she escaped, the man pulled out a gun before leaving and threatened her.

She said her former workplace had chosen to ignore workers having unprotected sex and had allowed workers to charge extra for unprotected sex, creating false expectations and a sense of entitlement among clients.

She claimed the brothel did not have security guards and failed to video customers.

The woman has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, whiplash in her neck and a torn muscle in her shoulder.

She said other brothels provided excellent security for their workers.

”It never used to be a big issue … but about 12 months before I got attacked, it became a regular occurrence. More and more guys were coming in asking for sex without a condom. They were under the impression that most of the girls in that place would do it,” she said.

”If they didn’t let that happen, I wouldn’t have been attacked.”

The woman won a workcover claim after the attack to have her medical expenses covered and to be paid $1000 a week – her average weekly earnings before the incident. She is also applying for compensation for permanent impairment through the WorkCover Authority’s no fault scheme.

”It doesn’t matter whether you work in a bank or a brothel, everyone has the right to feel safe at work”, said the woman’s lawyer, Rhiannon Reid of Maurice Blackburn.

Under Victorian law, it is an offence to provide sex work services without taking all reasonable steps to ensure that a condom or other appropriate barrier is used. It is also an offence for a brothel owner to permit a sex worker to work while infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

A government spokeswoman said Consumer Affairs Victoria had conducted 87 inspections of licensed brothels in the past financial year and found ”a small number” of breaches of safe-sex requirements, mostly relating to signage. All breaches detected were resolved through warning letters and follow up inspections, the spokeswoman said.

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11:11 am, Sunday 10 July, 2011

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is investigating an incident where a man has reportedly lost one leg and had his other leg crushed at a Port Hedland mining facility in the Pilbara region on Friday.

A spokeswoman from the mine confirmed there had been a “serious incident” involving a contractor during maintenance work at the mine’s port facility.

The man is in intensive care at a Perth hospital and is in a stable condition.

The incident, believed to have happened after a hydraulic ram failed, follows the death of a 27-year-old contractor at another industrial site in the Pilbara on Thursday.

Shadow mines minister Jon Ford said this week the State Government would have “blood on its hands” if it continued to neglect basing permanent mine safety inspectors in the Pilbara.

Mr Ford said there was only one inspector based in the Pilbara compared with 14 in the Goldfields.

CFMEU State secretary Kevin Reynolds said unions should be given greater access to sites in order to help prevent workplace accidents.

“There is a ready made safety inspector ready to go and that is the union movement and they (the Government) should tap into that,” Mr Reynolds said.

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07:23 am, Wednesday 27 April, 2011

WorkSafe inspectors will attend businesses in Clayton in a safety campaign aimed at reducing the number of workplace accidents in the Monash area.

Next month, ten inspectors will spend a week visiting about 100 workplaces of all sizes ranging from small businesses to large manufacturing plants, targeting unsafe workplaces.

The inspectors will be in Clayton from May 2-6.

WorkSafe’s Michael Birt says there have been 6410 claims in the City of Monash in the past five years and the cost of the claims over that time was $109 million.

“This is where people are off work for 10 days or more, or their treatment cost exceeds $580,” he said.

“It’s not going out on a job, falling over and spraining an ankle. A lot of these are basic issues that can be prevented easily – trips and falls – but they’re often longer term injuries.” He said the inspectors would also be checking employers to make sure people who had made claims in the past were being helped back into work.

“[If someone's injured] there are other things you can get them to do within the business. It might not be the job they’ve always done – there might be extra training involved, for example.”

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08:15 am, Monday 25 October, 2010

A construction company has been fined for safety violations when a cyclone hit the Pilbara region in Western Australia.

The company was charged after Cyclone George tore through a rail camp in 2007, killing two people and injuring dozens others.

Supreme Court Judge Michael Murray found the company guilty, overturning the acquittal by the Perth Magistrates Court in Octobober 2007.

WorkSafe Commissioner Nina Lyhne said the Supreme Court decision serves as a reminder to all companies.

“It’s important to remember the issues around Cyclone George are very much about having safe systems of work in place when people are exposed to hazards, when people are working in the north west of our state, cyclones are an obvious occupational health and safety hazard,” she said.

The company is expected to lodge an appeal.

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06:53 pm, Wednesday 8 September, 2010

WorkCover Tasmania says less Tasmanians have been injured last year, a sign that safety messages have a positive impact in safety systems of businesses.

About 9000 work-related injuries were recorded in 2009, around 700 less than the previous year.

WorkCover’s Dr Rob Walters said it signifies workplace safety is being taken seriously.

“The message seems to be getting through, both to employers and employees, they are realising that there’s a mutual responsibility here to return people home at the end of the day in the same state that they came when they arrived at work,” Dr Walters said.

He said it is time to focus on the health of workers.

“About 65 per cent of the workforce is overweight and we know that if a worker is healthy for work, fit for work, then they are about three times more productive.

“So it’s in everyone’s benefit if the worker takes some responsibility and gets himself or herself fit for work.”

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01:57 pm, Friday 21 May, 2010

WorkSafe is advising workers in regional and rural areas to arm themselves with more information on safety standards in the workplace.

According to the safety watchdog, work injuries are more likely to be serious and deaths are more prone to happen in rural zones than in urban ones.

It also said businesses in rural areas experience higher costs when it comes to work-related injuries.

As an example, WorkSafe’s Michael Birt draws attention to the figures of the City of Greater Bendigo compared with six rural ones.

“The fact that the Loddon Shire and the ones around it have fewer injuries than the City of Greater Bendigo is no surprise but the fact that the cost of treating those people is $10 million more than Bendigo says that people in the rural areas of country Victoria need to be doing a lot more to improve their safety,” he said.

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09:00 am, Friday 16 April, 2010

A drilling company is about to be sentenced next month over a workplace incident which cost the life of its worker in 2007.

The Goldfields company has pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain systems of work.

In March 2007, a 19-year-old employee was working at a Gindalbie Station, 50 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie. He was struck by a pressure hose, which resulted to his death.

During sentencing submissions on Wednesday, the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court was told basic safety procedures on the use of the equipment were not followed.

The Court also heard the company was extremely remorseful about what happened to its employee, and had gone through financial woes since the incident.

The Court will hand down the sentence on May 6.

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01:12 pm, Tuesday 13 April, 2010

Queensland businesses and individuals are once again encouraged to take part in this year’s Queensland Work Safe Awards and be honored as leaders in the field.

Now in its 5th year, the Work Safe Awards recognises the best practices of businesses and individuals in safety systems, solutions and practices in the workplace. The event celebrates, showcases and rewards innovative ideas, leadership and commitment to workplace health and safety.

There are five categories for this year’s event, which are: Best workplace health and safety management system, Best solution to an identified health and safety issue, Best workplace health and safety practices in small business, Best individual contribution to workplace health and safety and Best solution to an identified electrical issue.

Deadline for submission of entries is on July 9. The winners will be announced on October 26.

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06:53 pm, Sunday 11 April, 2010

A leading supplier to the construction industry has been fined over a workplace accident in 2007, which caused serious leg injuries to a worker.

The manufacturing firm pleaded guilty to breaching section 19(1) of the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act 1986 in failing to provide a maintain plant in a safe condition.

In 2007, a male worker was removing picks from an excavator bucket in a Linwood Quarry.

He used a steel sledgehammer for the task, but it caused shards of metal to splinter from the pick, penetrating his leg.

SafeWork SA said the company had not provided its employee the proper tool for the job.

The firm had also not undertaken proper work method statement.

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