09:59 am, Wednesday 30 June, 2010

An explosion on the deck of a ship off the central Queensland coast has caused burn injuries to a mariner yesterday.

According to Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins, two men were welding on the coal ship’s deck when a spark ignited.

Ms Jiggins said the 30-year-old Filipino national’s clothing caught fire, forcing him to jump overboard to put out the flames.

“Fortunately we don’t believe he has incredibly severe burns, but he does have some burns to his legs,” she said.

“[The burns] are not considered to be life threatening, but that vessel is currently making its way closer inshore so that we can get a helicopter with some medical staff out there to assist him.”

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08:19 am, Wednesday 30 June, 2010

A Darch man has been prosecuted for performing plumbing work without a licence.

The Perth Magistrates Court fined the defendant $2,000 and ordered him to pay costs of $384 in June 18.

According to the Plumbers Licensing Board (PLB) Chairperson Judy Seif, a Girrawheen home owner engaged the services of the defendant for renovation work. During this process, he performed several illegal plumbing tasks.

“Following a complaint about the quality of the work performed, a PLB inspector found that plumbing work had been undertaken that involved very poor workmanship,” Ms Seif said.

According to the defendant’s lawyer, he had only been in Australia for four months at the time of the incident. Magistrate Elaine Campione did not accept this argument, doubting the undertaking unlicensed plumbing was an innocent mistake.

Magistrate Campione also mentioned the public’s strong interest in upholding licensing requirements and that the penalty would be a deterrent.

“The plumbing industry in WA is regulated and requires that any persons who undertake plumbing hold the required licence or permit,” Ms Seif said.

“Unlicensed plumbing potentially puts the supply of clean water at risk, along with the health and safety of the community.”

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07:35 am, Wednesday 30 June, 2010

The Fremantle Magistrates Court has fined a crane operator last week after his crane collapsed while 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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08:25 pm, Tuesday 29 June, 2010

A construction worker has suffered injuries on top of an unfinished Perth building on Monday.

The incident happened at midday at a Murray Street construction site, and led to a massive emergency response.

It is reported the man slipped while working at height, prompting ambulance crews to ride a lift 50 metres up the building to reach the man and assess his condition.

CBD traffic had to be rerouted and roads near the building closed.

The man is expected to fully recover from his injuries.

Worksafe is looking into the work-related incident.

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07:55 pm, Tuesday 29 June, 2010

A Rockhampton firm has been charged by the Queensland’s Justice Department for safety breaches following an investigation into an insulation worker fatality last year.

A 16-year-old worker was working in the ceiling of a Stanwell home in central Queensland in November 2009. He was installing fibreglass insulation when he was electrocuted.

The company is being prosecuted for violating the Electrical Safety Act and for its alleged failure to run its business safely.

It is also being charged under the Workplace Health and Safety Act for allegedly failing to have fall protection in place for workers working at height.

The matter is scheduled for mention in the Rockhampton Industrial Magistrates in August.

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07:37 pm, Tuesday 29 June, 2010

A worker has been crushed to death by a bulldozer at a Boxsell Road worksite near Tyalgum yesterday.

Police said emergency service crews, including the Rural Fire Service, NSW Ambulance and the Tweed District Rescue Squad responded to the site at 12:30pm AEST.

It is reported that the 68-year-old man attempted to get back into the bulldozer as it rolled away.

He was crushed when the earth moving equipment rolled down an embankment before coming to rest against trees.

“As a result of the accident, it appears a male has received fatal injuries,” Tweed Byron Local Area Command duty officer Inspector Darren Steel said.

An NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the man was declared dead at the scene.

Insp. Steel said WorkCover authorities had been notified and will attend the scene.

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08:26 am, Saturday 26 June, 2010

A manufacturing company has been ordered to pay a worker over an unfair termination due to unsafe work practices.

The company fired the worker on 29 September 2009. The man aggravated his preexisting back injury after trying to realign the welded panels of a welding machine.

The company believed it to be an unsafe action and dismissed the worker.

The worker, who worked for the company for 15 years, claimed unfair dismissal.

Fair Work Australia, agreeing with the worker, stated the manufacturing firm should have considered other less drastic disciplinary actions.

Fair Work Australia found reinstatement was no longer viable, and ordered the company to pay compensation equivalent to nine weeks’ pay instead.

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07:18 pm, Friday 25 June, 2010

The Adelaide Industrial Magistrates Court has found a munitions company and its chief operating officer guilty of failing to maintain a safe workplace following a worksite explosion.

The defendants were on trial over a 2006 blast at its factory in Gladstone in the mid-north of South Australia.

The blast killed three workers and injured two others.

According to the court, the company’s equipment were not adequately maintained, in violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

“All I can say is we waited four years, we’ve now found out that it was totally preventable. What more can I say?” the father of a victim said.

The defendants’ lawyer thinks the magistrate sided with the Government and SafeWork SA.

“The magistrate has simply accepted what we regard as nonsense theory put up by the Premier’s Department,” he said after the hearing.

The court is expected to give the ruling on the penalty next month.

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06:38 pm, Friday 25 June, 2010

A man’s legs have been crushed after 300 kilograms of steel fell on him at a far north Queensland shipyard.

The 20-year-old was helping unload metal plates from a shipping container in Kuranda, near Cairns, when the plates fell on him.

Firefighters and paramedics responded to the Myola Road scene around 10.30am where the worker was trapped by his legs.

The man, who suffered multiple leg fractures, was airlifted by the Emergency Management Queensland to the Cairns Base Hospital.

He was later listed in a stable condition.

A Workplace Health and Safety spokeswoman says the safety body is investigating the incident to determine any breach in safework procedures.

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06:09 pm, Friday 25 June, 2010

A Rockhampton resident has won his case against the insurer of his former employer for asbestos exposure.

The 74-year-old central Queensland man said he worked at a Rockhampton power station in the 1960s for four years. He claimed he was exposed to asbestos during his stay at the now defunct facility.

Last month the man was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-linked cancer.

He was awarded a six-figure amount due to his successful WorkCover claim.

He said he is concerned about the health of his former colleagues who worked at the same worksite.

“Occasionally a steam line would blow and even the workers that worked on the asbestos would hammer the asbestos and It would flake off,” he said.

“So you had all these fibres floating around in the area so they themselves would have been subjected to it.”

The man’s solicitor said the case highlights the dangers asbestos poses.

“Although the Rockhampton power station is no longer in existence this is a deadly legacy it’s left behind,” he said.

“We still see asbestos in buildings, business, home environments and schools.”

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