09:19 am, Wednesday 31 March, 2010

A WorkSafe seminar on bullying held on March 25 has attracted more than 150 attendees.

It is WorkSafe’s first in a string of seminars across Victoria. It aims to guide employers, managers and supervisors on the procedures they need to carry out to prevent and respond to bullying.

Victoria’s safety watchdog receives about 30 phone calls daily on workplace bullying. Around 10 percent of calls result to visits by WorkSafe inspectors to the worksites for further inquiries.

The seminar also covers identifying risk of workplace bullying and taking steps to deal with problem areas. Participants fielded questions to a panel of WorkSafe representatives on issues including cyber bullying, confirming bullying claims, and what to do when bullying is a part of workplace culture.

According to WorkSafe, the turnout shows the resolution of employers to stamp out workplace bullying. It is best dealt by taking preventive measures it before it becomes a risk to health and safety.

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08:59 am, Wednesday 31 March, 2010

Tasmania’s major cement producer intends to make contact with up to 1,500 former employees to have them undergo lung-health tests.

The plant in the north-west, which produced most of the state’s asbestos-related products from the 1940s to the 1980s, employed about 2,000 workers during that period. They could have possibly been exposed to asbestos.

The cement firm contacted 550 workers in writing, offering them free lung function tests. 320 have responded and have been tested so far.

The company’s manager of health and safety says they are planning to advertise in national newspapers.

“The next phase is about getting in touch with people on the mainland now and offering the same services to ex-employees who may be on the mainland,” he said.

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08:08 am, Wednesday 31 March, 2010

A transport company is being prosecuted following an incident where one of its workers broke several bones when he fell to the ground while working at height.

The Hobart firm pleaded not guilty to failing to keep an employee safe from injury.

The 30-year-old worker alleged that he had worked for the transport company at Mornington for a month when he was asked to work on the roof to repair leaks at the worksite.

The man gave evidence that he was in a cage attached to a forklift when it fell four metres onto the ground.

He told the court he suffered significant injuries and is still confined to a motorised wheelchair.

According to the worker, he was told by the company’s managing director and manager to use the cage.

However, the forklift driver challenged his colleague’s assertion, telling the court that it was the injured worker’s idea.

The hearing before the Court is still underway.

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06:30 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

Queensland’s mining industry has reported its best safety performance on record, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) says.

According to the QRC, the current information on the state’s mine safety reveals improvements in several key safety indicators.

The total number of reported injuries has decreased, along with the frequency rate of lost time injuries.

However, there were four mining and quarry-related fatalities during the financial year 2008-’09. The increase in time lost due to injury and illness can also be improved for the industry.

The QRC says there is no such thing as an acceptable level of death or injury, so health and safety of workers should always be prioritised.

It says it would also like to see future reports released more promptly because the most recent data is up to 15 months old.

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05:45 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

WorkSafe is set to prosecute to the Department of Education following an accident at the Western Australian College of Agriculture involving a year 12 student.

The 16-year-old student nearly lost her leg when it was caught in a farm equipment at the Morawa campus in the state’s mid-west three years ago.

The woman was connecting a rotary hoe to a tractor when she was caught in the machinery. She sustained serious foot and leg injuries because of the incident.

The Education Department is now facing two charges to failing to provide a hazard-free workplace.

It marks the first time WorkSafe has prosecuted another government department.

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05:27 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

Two separate abattoirs and their respective contract cleaning companies have been prosecuted for injuries to cleaners in almost similar circumstances.

WorkSafe has prosecuted all four companies under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 for failings including inadequate staff training and unguarded machinery.

An abattoir from Ararat was convicted and fined $20,000 yesterday, while its service provider was convicted and fined $55,000, after a machine accident in 2008. A contract cleaner’s arm was caught in a conveyor as he stretched to reach for a piece of meat.

In a similar incident prosecuted in February, a Warrnambool-based meat abattoir and its contractor were convicted after a worker’s arm was dragged into an unguarded conveyor in 2007. The meat company was fined $35,000 and the cleaning company $25,000.

Both incidents identified similar failings by the parties.

The two cleaning contractor companies did not provide training and instruction to staff on how to clean dangerous machinery; and failed to carry out safety procedures to ‘lock out and tag out’ machines before cleaning.

The two abattoirs failed to install proper machine guards: Ararat-based company’s conveyor had removable guards, which allowed workers to access the machine’s danger area. As for the Warrnambool-based company, small holes on each side of the unguarded conveyor were found, and the cleaners’ hands could access hazardous moving parts.

Commenting on the cases, WorkSafe’s Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Stan Krpan said:

“The fact that we’re continuing to see these sorts of cases is not acceptable. Guards that can be removed, or that don’t prevent access to dangerous machinery, are useless. And not training staff to know that you need to make sure a machine is tagged as being ‘off’ before cleaning it, is inexcusable.

“These prosecutions are a message to industry – that basic safety failings like we’ve seen in these two cases are indefensible – WorkSafe recognises this, and so do the courts.”

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04:46 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

A 49-year-old worker has been killed at a container terminal at Sydney’s Port Botany on Sunday night, authorities say.

The wharf worker was crushed to death after he was hit by a container being unloaded from a ship at about 7.30 pm.

WorkCover NSW inspectors are investigating the incident for possible lapses in safework procedure.

A spokesman for the container terminal operator said it will conduct its own investigation into the fatal accident.

According to a WorkCover spokesman, the man was working on a ship when he was killed.

“He was crushed between two shipping containers,” he said.

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04:15 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

The Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court has fined an agricultural firm over injuries sustained by a teenage worker at its vegetable processing plant in Ivy Street, Killarney, in October 2008.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 28 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to ensure the safety of its workers.

Magistrate Cornack imposed a $43,000 fine and ordered the company to pay costs amounting to $2,919 on Monday.

The Court was told the 18-year-old casual worker was cleaning potato processing equipment when her arms were dragged into the machine by a rotating auger screw. A colleague shut the machine down, but the woman remained trapped for over an hour.

The woman suffered injuries to her arms including multiple fractures, lacerations, and severed tendons and arteries.

Because of the injuries, she now has virtually no use of her right hand and some disability to her left arm. She has also suffered psychological trauma, including nightmares and flashbacks. She has not returned to work since the incident.

During its investigation, the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation found the company did not have a safe system for performing the task of cleaning the machine without exposing workers to risks from moving parts.

After the incident, the company has improved on its safety system. It has secured the machine guard by preventing access to the auger screw, and it has developed a work method statement for cleaning and operating the machine and for training workers.

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03:51 pm, Tuesday 30 March, 2010

WorkSafe is looking into the alleged assault of one of its inspectors at Lardner Park Fieldays on Friday.

The inspector stopped a rubbish collection vehicle to caution a person riding on the draw bar of a trailer attached to the vehicle.

The inspector tried to tell the person the dangerous nature of riding on the draw bar. However, the driver used his vehicle to push the inspector away while yelling abuse.

A person assaulting a WorkSafe inspector can lead to a two-year prison term, and fines of up to up to $26,000 for individuals and up to $129,000 for companies.

WorkSafe has previously warned that it will not tolerate obstructing inspectors, whether through verbal or physical assaults. According to WorkSafe, hindering inspectors while doing their task will be followed by an investigation or possible prosecution.

On January 2010, the owner of a panel beating business near Traralgon was brought to court after physically charging an inspector while verbally abusing him.

On January 2007, two men appeared in court after they took an inspector’s camera from him and buried the film buried in a Mildura drainage project trench.

WorkSafe’s Acting Executive Director Stan Krpan said its inspectors have the right to enter workplaces at any time to ensure safety standards are maintained.

“WorkSafe’s aim is to work constructively with all employers and workers,” Mr Krpan said.

“However, our inspectors have a job to do. Preventing them doing their job is a matter WorkSafe takes seriously.

“For obstruction, the courts can fine individuals up to $6,450 for obstructing inspectors while companies can be fined $33,000.

“We know most Victorians support the role of WorkSafe and our objective to ensure all Victorians get home safely at the end of the day. That right includes members of our team.”

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01:31 pm, Friday 26 March, 2010

More than a hundred workers at a State Government-owned power plant in Kwinana have been sent home on Wednesday after fears of asbestos exposure.

According to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), tests found asbestos particles were scattered throughout the power station following recent demolition works.

An old part of the plant was being upgraded, which made the demolition necessary.

The demolition work had uncovered old pipes coated with asbestos, and had unleashed the fibres across the entire plant. Asbestos was found at 18 of the 30 test sites.

AMWU state secretary Steve McCartney said the plant operator had confirmed there were no safe areas for his members to work.

He said that testing had even found asbestos fibres in areas surrounding the rest rooms and canteen.

A spokesman for the company said the station continued to run without any threat to power supplies, and the company was cooperating with regulatory authorities.

“The contaminated area is being environmentally cleaned and monitoring by occupational hygienists is continuing,” he said.

An AMWU spokesman confirmed some employees carrying out essential work remained on site, wearing protective masks.

WorkSafe said the company followed the proper safety procedures after the discovery of the asbestos.

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