08:40 am, Tuesday 19 October, 2010

Safety issues over plant and equipment remain a major concern for the agricultural industry, WorkSafe Victoria reveals.

WorkSafe inspectors have issued over 200 safety improvement notices to farm businesses from July to September as part of a year-long statewide farm safety campaign.

Now in its third month, the campaign focuses on the most common causes of farm injuries and fatalities.

According to WorkSafe’s Executive Director (Health and Safety) Ian Forsyth, over half of the safety notices issued were in connection with plant and equipment safety.

“One of our biggest concerns is the lack of guarding on power take-off (PTO) shafts which can turn at thousands of revolutions a minute,” said Mr Forsyth.

“A PTO guard is basically a life-saving device which protects you from getting caught up in the rotating parts which connect a tractor with an attachment like an auger or a slasher.

“If [you're] not using a PTO guard, you’re putting yourself and others at risk of being pulled into the rotating shaft by hair or clothing.

“Most farmers would have a good understanding of what a fast-rotating shaft looks like. You don’t need a lot of imagination to understand what happens when something goes wrong,” he said.

Mr Forsyth is expecting farmers to become busier in the coming months as the state is expecting a bumper crop.

“Things may have been a bit quieter for farmers over winter – now that the days are longer and farmers are gearing up for harvesting, the pressure is really on.

“Now is the time to get safety right. If you’ve been farming for decades, it’s time to start thinking the job through rather than just relying on your skills and experience.”

Aside from inadequate PTO guard, the safety inspections had uncovered a number of safety issues involving plant and equipment, including forklifts, chemical storage, fall hazards, electrical equipment, manual handling, quad bikes (helmets), silos, traffic management systems, and rollover protection on tractors.

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know

09:27 am, Thursday 1 April, 2010

The Armadale Magistrates Court has fined a commercial food manufacturer, its director/manager and production manager on March 18 after a worker lost two fingers in a cheese grinder.

The parties pleaded guilty to charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The company was charged with failing to provide a safe working environment, causing serious harm to an employee and fined $20,000. The director was charged with neglect and fined $1,500. The production manager was charged with failing to take reasonable care, causing serious harm to another person and fined $1,500.

On 29 May 2006, the worker was mincing blocks of cheese at the firm’s Canning Vale worksite.

The employee turned the machine on and reached down to push the cheese into the auger. As he did so, his left hand touched the auger. His index and middle fingers were cut off as a result.

The court heard the director could observe the employee with his hand in the hopper.

The production manager was in charge of day-to-day food processing operations and supervised the staff. According to WorkSafe, he had seen staff pushing food into the auger while the grinder was operating, and had done so himself.

The manager also knew the grinder’s interlock mechanism, was not functioning at the time of the incident.

The food company installed an interlocking guard after the incident to prevent workers from reaching into the hopper while the grinder is turned on.

According to WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne, the case serves as a reminder of the need to guard the machinery’s moving parts.

“The employee’s serious injuries would have been avoided if the company had taken steps to install effective guarding,” she said.

“Guarding of moving parts of machinery is vital, and is still one of the easiest and most obvious means of minimising the risk of injury to machinery operators. I strongly urge employers in workplaces with machinery to ensure that it is safe to operate.”

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know

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.

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know