04:25 pm, Wednesday 30 March, 2011

An industrial cleaning company has been fined $130,000 after a man died while using a high pressure hose at a steel site in Port Kembla.

The man sustained fatal injuries in May 2008 while cleaning sludge from a settlement tank.

The 39 year old lost control of the jet after the nozzle was changed to increase its force.

John Watson from Workcover says the company pleaded guilty to breaching occupational health and safety standards.

He says the company failed to provide adequate training or equipment for the high pressure hose.

“Making sure that the machine had a proper mounting station and ensuring that the staff were educated about the the dangers of using the high pressue nozzle, and indeed modifying it, the company did express it’s remorse in respect to this matter and has taken the positive step of setting up a trust fund for the deceased,” he said.

Mr Watson says the company has shown remorse but he says steps need to be taken so accidents like this do not occur.

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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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12:23 pm, Tuesday 29 March, 2011

The WorkCover Authority of NSW has released a safety alert as a reminder to employers and principal contractors to ensure the stability of excavations before workers enter them.

An unsupported trench wall, three metres in height, collapsed onto three workers.  One worker died and the other two were seriously injured.

The workers were constructing a bungy pool for exercising horses when the soil gave way and, together with a steel beam, collapsed onto them.

A temporary support was constructed for emergency retrieval purposes.

Trench and excavation collapses pose a significant risk to workers and can occur with little or no warning. Excavated ground that appears stable may not necessarily be stable. Even if the ground is stable, this may change over time.

The following factors may contribute to unstable conditions:

• The depth of the excavation;
• The nature of the ground or soil, including its reaction to the elements (for instance, ground exposed to rain may become unstable);
• Slip planes in the soil and fractures/faults in rocks;
• Water content, including the inrush of water;
• Nearby in-ground services;
• The placement of and vibration from plant;
• The storage of excavated material near the edge of the excavation; and
• The proximity of buildings and other structures.

Construct a ground support system, steel shield or walls battered back at a safe angle where ground conditions have not been assessed as being stable.

Before you start excavating, do the following to prevent collapse:

• Complete a site specific risk assessment that accounts for the above risk factors.

• Where unstable conditions are identified, obtain advice from an appropriately qualified engineer who can complete a geotechnical analysis.

• Consider the use of shoring, earth retention equipment or other appropriate measures for all excavation work, based upon the risk assessment and the specialist advice.

• Complete a documented safe work method statement for trenches and excavations at depths greater than 1.5 metres. Consider the activities around and within the excavation, including the type and weight of any plant used in the vicinity of the excavation.

• Where control measures involve the use of a shoring system, benching or battering, ensure that an appropriately qualified person designs and supervises their construction.

• Ensure that a competent person is engaged to regularly inspect and supervise the progress of the excavation work. • Consult with workers on the controls measures to be used. • Ensure that site security is in place to prevent unauthorised access. • Ensure that fall prevention and access/egress systems are in place.

• Ensure that underground services are located and not affected. • Develop emergency procedures for an excavation collapse.

During excavation work, ensure that safe work procedures are implemented and activities are supervised. When changes to site specific conditions occur, the procedures may have to be amended. Maintain site security and your emergency procedures. If deficiencies are detected in the excavation, shoring, benching or battering, you must stop the work and evacuate the excavation. Only resume work when the deficiencies have been rectified and an appropriately qualified engineer has verified the safety of the excavation.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 requires employers and those in control of workplaces to take all necessary steps to ensure that safe systems of work are implemented and maintained, and that persons undertaking them are provided with adequate information, training and supervision to ensure their safety.

Part 8.5 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 provides more specific obligations for excavation work.

The Code of practice excavation work provides employers, self-employed people and workers with advice on preventing injuries during excavation work on construction sites, including how to establish controls that prevent the collapse or failure of trenches and open excavations.

The code can be obtained by contacting WorkCover at workcover.nsw.gov.au or the WorkCover Assistance Service on 13 10 50.

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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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01:02 pm, Monday 28 March, 2011

The NSW Business Chamber has called on the new Premier, Barry O’Farrell to support the federal government’s national occupational safety regime.

In October last year Ms Keneally refused to support Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s workplace harmonisation laws, saying workers in NSW would lose important protections if she agreed.

“We have always insisted that our safety standards should not be weakened as part of national harmonisation process,” she said then.

Yesterday, the Business Chamber called on Mr O’Farrell to sign up to the workplace laws within his first 100 days as premier.

“The state could do so much better,” Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright said in a statement.

“Now Barry O’Farrell must deliver the better outcomes he has promised.”

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07:54 am, Monday 28 March, 2011

SafetyCulture is now on Facebook, giving you more ways to intereact with our team, ask questions, post comments of interest and see what we are doing in the Industry.

You can access the page through your Facebook account by clicking here.

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05:07 pm, Sunday 27 March, 2011

A new study has found young and older commercial fishers are at risk from being injured on the job.

The study, partly funded by the fishing industry, was based upon more than 100 reports of on-vessel accidents.

It found young commercial fishers, between 20 and 25, were most at risk, followed by older fishers aged 45 to 54.

Researcher Kate Brooks says often young workers do not get enough training.

“We unfortunately don’t have a lot of regulations or culture in the industry around induction processes or a culture of occupational health and safety [OHS] and so young people coming into the industry, who often don’t have any OHS culture to bring with them, can often be a little bit more vulnerable,” she said.

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08:36 am, Saturday 26 March, 2011

Two electrical contractors have died from electric shocks in the Townsville area over the past two weeks.

The deaths prompted a warning from one Townsville electrician who said such tragedies were inevitable because cyclone damage had made many buildings treacherous.

Attempts were made by ambulance officers to save a man 50s who suffered an electric shock while working on airconditioning ducting at the Landmark building in Garbutt.

Police believed exposed electrical wires touching metal framework caused the incident.

A QAS spokeswoman said crews performed CPR but he was unable to be revived.

Queensland Police media said a report would be prepared for the coroner, with Workplace Health and Safety to investigate.

In a separate incident, a 23-year-old man also died after spending a week in intensive care following an electric shock at a business at Bluewater Park last Wednesday.

Queensland Health refused to comment on the man’s cause of death.

Electrical contractors are now urging one another to take special care working with wiring, especially on damaged buildings.

Electrician John McLean of Arawa Hay Electrical said deaths in his line of work were inevitable.

“If you’re playing with fire you may get burnt, that’s the reality,” he said.

Mr McLean has been an electrician for the past 24 years and said these two tragedies highlight the dangers workers face everyday.

“Caution should always be of the utmost importance, especially when working on cyclone-damage buildings” he said.

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11:07 pm, Wednesday 23 March, 2011

A logging company has been fined $15,000 after a worker had to have several fingers amputated.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace at a plantation where the incident occurred in July 2008.

A worker operating a mobile wood chipper was attempting to clear a blockage from the overspout, designed to eject oversized wood from the machine.

The worker left his cab to attend to the blockage, however he had not been instructed on how to do so, and there was no guard in place to prevent contact with the rotating chipper disk.

The man suffered serious hand injuries, and had to have three fingers amputated following the incident.

Acting Worksafe Commissioner Lex McCulloch said the case illustrated the importance of guarding machinery to prevent injuries.

“Guarding of the moving parts of machinery is one of the easiest and most obvious means of minimising the risk of injury to machinery operators,” he said.

“It is up to the employer to ensure that workers observe the safe work practices that are in place.

“But in this case, it would have been better to ensure that the machine was safe to operate in the first place.”

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10:33 pm, Wednesday 23 March, 2011

A man in his 30s sustained serious injuries in a tractor accident in South Gippsland on Monday.

The man fell off his tractor and sustained multiple fractures and possible spinal injuries and was flown to hospital.

This incident follows a quad bike accident that claimed the life of a 11-year-old boy near Hamilton last week.

WorkSafe Victoria said agriculture was over-represented in workplace fatalities last year with seven workplace deaths on farms.

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