12:07 pm, Wednesday 10 July, 2013

A public servant in Canberra, who applied for voluntary redundancy, was diagnosed with depression after he was told that he could keep his job.

The worker who was severely depressed because he wasn’t made redundant has had his claim for workers compensation denied.

The worker said that the decision by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to not give him a lucrative payout was “vindictive and unfair.”

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal found that the worker was not entitled to redundancy and supported the Comcare decision to knock back his compensation claim.

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05:23 pm, Tuesday 25 June, 2013

Unions are concerned that any Australian worker injured on the construction site for the new Chinese embassy in Canberra may not have access to compensation.

Dean Hall, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) ACT secretary said yesterday that he had found out that Australian workers have been delivering supplies to the “secretive” site even though there had been assurances that this would not happen.

He said that if there is an accident at the site then both the Australian workers and their employers would not be covered for compensation.

ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said that it was not within his power to take any action regarding unsafe work practices at the Chinese site.

It was revealed in November by The Canberra Times that diplomatic visas were granted to a number of Chinese construction workers by the federal government specifically to work at the Chinese Embassy site. This means that the workers at the site are out of reach when it comes to Australian employment regulations.

The CFMEU had communicated their concerns about if safety standards could be enforced at the site.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that they have raised safety concerns at the site at least twice with the Chinese Embassy.

Mr Hall said that the CFMEU was originally informed that Australian workers would not need to enter the site.

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02:40 pm, Saturday 30 March, 2013

GIO as one of the largest workers’ compensation insurance companies in Australia has said that it is likely to pass the cost of the new construction industry safety levies in Canberra onto employers according to a report in the Canberra Times.

But GIO has also warned that the safety record in the ACT is already a considerable cost to companies because of the insurance premiums that are higher than average – these are costing more than the potential passed on costs of the new levies.

Susie Walford, the GIO Workers Compensation ACT executive manager, said that companies that operate with a poor safety record in Canberra were possibly paying insurance premiums that are up to 40 per cent higher, which puts them at a financial disadvantage.

She said that construction businesses that showed that they are looking after the safety of their employees and avoid worker injuries pay less for workers compensation insurance; a companies claim experience can have an effect on the charged premium.

She said that it is likely that GIO will pass the cost of the new levy onto employers in July when it is introduced, the levy will be no more than 0.015 per cent of the declared wages bill of a company.

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06:20 pm, Wednesday 30 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

A construction site in Canberra where an apprentice suffered from an electric shock last week has been shut down by WorkSafe ACT.

The building contractor has been issued with a prohibition notice for breaches of work safety legislation which will prevent them from undertaking further work on the site.

According to ABC, Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said further work will not be allowed until the contractor’s outdated work practices are improved.

“It’s largely that they’re not keeping up to date which leaves open the possibility that what they’re doing is not compliant with the current law,” said Mr McCabe.

“It’s referring to law that’s been out of date now for over a year and we don’t think that’s good enough.”

“We’ll take it step by step. We’re concerned at this site at the moment but we’ll also be asking questions about the rest of their work as well,” he said.

SafetyCulture previously reported that WorkSafe ACT issued a prohibition notice on the project which forbids any additional work to be done on the conditioning system where the apprentice was working on at the time of the incident.

The building contractor met with WorkSafety ACT on this issue on Tuesday.

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07:04 pm, Monday 28 January, 2013

The ACT’s Work Safety Commissioner, Mark McCabe has lashed out at the manager of an apartment site in Canberra where an apprentice suffered from electric shock last Thursday.

According to a Fairfax Media report, Mr McCabe accused the building site manager of dismissing the injury as an incident which could not have been prevented.

The work safety commissioner reacted to the manager’s comments on Friday about the incident being “isolated” and that issues concerning the site would be “non-life threatening.”

“The response sort of suggests that accidents will happen and there’s not much we can do about it,” said Mr McCabe.

“That’s an issue that came up in the Getting Them Home Safely report [on construction safety].

“It’s very disappointing to see a principal of a major construction company voicing such a view.

“The young woman who received the shock is probably lucky that she didn’t get a far worse outcome.

“What I would prefer to hear from employers is that they are doing everything they reasonably can to prevent those situations from happening,” he said.

The building site manager issued a statement last Friday saying that a safety audit conducted by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, project managers and workers found no safety breaches which would prevent work on site.

Site workers walked off the job after a meeting between union representatives and construction managers was held. (Read SafetyCulture Report)

WorkSafe ACT issued a prohibition notice on the project which forbids any additional work to be done on the conditioning system on which the apprentice was working on at the time of the incident.

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05:22 pm, Friday 25 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Workers of an apartment site in Canberra have walked off the job after an apprentice electrician suffered from an electric shock in Canberra on Thursday.

The apprentice was working alone on a platform ladder and received shock from a live circuit which she thought has been switched off. (Read SafetyCulture Report).

According to ABC News, all workers have stopped work on the site while safety inspection is being conducted.

A CFMEU representative told ABC that the victim was thrown from a ladder during the shock and was unconscious until workmates found her.

The site will not be opened again until after the Australia Day long weekend.

ABC further reported that CFMEU spokesman Dean Hall said a site meeting was conducted and that the decision to walk off the job was made by the workers.

“We’ve found some fundamental failings. When the emergency procedure was let off… the first four workers that came out couldn’t tell us where the emergency assembly point was,” said Mr Hall.

“There’s been a breakdown of communication. There’s paperwork in place but little understanding on site of practical implications of safety.

“There’s a fundamental breakdown in consultation and communication,” he said.

Mr Hall also said that workers are already frustrated and that they feel that “safety is a paid lip service.”

“That’s got to change and that’s why the ACT has a terrible record in leading the nation on workplace injury and fatality rates.”

WorkSafe ACT is investigating the incident. Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said a prohibition notice has been issued for the job the victim was working on, but there are currently no plans to shut the site down.

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01:49 am, Friday 25 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

An electrical apprentice suffered from an electric shock at a building site in Canberra on Thursday.

The woman was brought to the Canberra Hospital after the accident. Canberra Times reported that according to initial investigations, the apprentice was working alone on a platform ladder and received shock from a live circuit which she thought has been switched off.

“It’s supposed to be turned off and when it is, it should be tagged so that no one else turns it back on,” said Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe.

“She believed it had been turned off, but it had been turned back on.

“We will probably be issuing notices on the employer.

There’s a couple of things we’re investigating, mainly some of the work practices involved and how the power, or how the electrical circuit, came to be live,” he said.

This is just one of the series of work related injuries and deaths in the ACT since last year and the Government has committed to conduct an inquiry into compliance with work health and safety laws in the ACT construction sector.

Canberra Times further reported that CFMEU could take serious action over the latest accident.

“The CFMEU is extremely concerned about the reports coming from that building site,” said CFMEU branch secretary Dean Hall.

“This is very distressing. She’s very lucky to be alive.

“Every worker around the territory should be concerned about someone allegedly turning electrical wires back on when they should have been off.”

He said electrocution was one of the major causes of fatality in construction sites.

The inquiry into health and safety laws on ACT building sites found that the ACT had a higher rate of serious claims in the last 12 months compared to other states in the country, and that 1 in 40 workers in the construction industry  will suffer a work-related injury which will result to workers being off from work for at least a week. (Read SafetyCulture report)

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03:18 pm, Wednesday 28 November, 2012

A recent report on Canberra’s construction safety saying the ACT construction industry has the worst safety condition has received good response from the government.

ABC News reported that ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe says he is satisfied with the overall response to the report.

“There seemed to be wide-spread acceptance of what we are saying,” said Mr McCabe.

“I didn’t hear people say ‘look we’ve got it wrong, our record is not what it says’.

“I think people accepted that and I saw a willingness to move forward,” he said.

Mr McCabe however, said the construction industry needs to be supportive of the government’s effort in ensuring the industry’s safety.

“There is general belief that it’s a dangerous industry and accidents are going to happen and there’s not much you can do about them,” said Mr McCabe.

“It’s a bit fatalistic thinking.

“Our view is, yes it is dangerous, but if you take that fatalistic view then you’re not going to fix things.”

He also said ‘cowboy’ companies which are breaking the laws is increasingly difficult.

“They’re good at dodging,” said Mr McCabe.

“If our inspectors go into one of the new suburbs, you can bet there’s a stream of cars going out the other end of the suburb.

“The word goes around the mobile phone that WorkSafe are on the beat, and surely that says something about the amount of transgressions that are going on, but we actually have to catch them.”

According to the report, the ACT had a higher rate of serious claims in the last 12 months compared to other states excluding Tasmania. It also found that 1 in 40 workers in the construction industry will suffer a work-related injury which will result to workers being off from work for at least a week. Read SafetyCulture report.

A construction union believes that actual statistics may even be worse than the results of the report. CFMEU ACT branch secretary Dean Hall said hospital data should have also been examined.

“If you ask any of the nurses or doctors who work in our casualty wards or emergency wards, heaps of people present in high-viz (visibility) clothes from construction sites who have been hurt,” said Mr Hall.

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02:24 pm, Friday 23 November, 2012

Mr Michael Costello
Photo: ActewAGL website

ActewAGL chief executive Michael Costello would prefer a disgruntled customer than a dead worker and Canberra’s construction industry risking safety due to unrealistic deadlines and cost-cutting.

According to a Canberra Times report, ActewAGL and ACTEW Corporation called for reforms to tender processes including “weight given to a contractor’s workplace health and safety record, equal to that of the cost and schedule.”

Mr Costello said tender process needed to reward businesses that prioritise workplace safety and not penalise them. He said he was obsessed with reducing safety risks to his 900-strong workforce, 350 of them working in the field.

Mr Costello believed it was timely for the government to call an inquiry not only because of workplace fatalities which happened recently but because safety culture need to continuously evolve to avoid complacency.

“Safety is not a static thing. It is not a case of ‘I’ve done it, I’ve got a safe workplace’,” said Mr Costello.

“You’re dealing with humans and one of the biggest problems we have is you get complacent, you get bored, you cut corners.”

Since his appointment as chief executive in 2008, Mr Costello has initiated a “root and branch” review of safety systems. He also hired a specialist director of environment, health, safety and quality.

Mr Costello said that he was very much aware of the innate dangers of a workplace in electricity and gas supply, “which is both dangerous to the workers and to the community”.

The Canberra Times further reported that one of the incidents which sparked the government’s inquiry was the death of a 43-year-old truck driver when he was electrocuted in March after electricity arced from powerlines to his vehicle while delivering gravel. Mr Costello said the accident disappointed the company, which has exerted efforts to warn the public on the possible dangers of working near powerlines.

According to Mr Costello, ActewAGL is coming up with new strategies to promote safety improvements including paying cash incentives to workers who will report “near misses” so they could be examined. He also personally meets with injured workers to discuss ways to manage risks.

Mr Costello said that improved safety would mean better business.

“People seem to think spending money on safety is a cost, but if you run a safe business you make more money and are more productive than if you don’t,” he said.

“The very procedures and processes and organisation which makes for a safe workplace are the very procedures which make for an efficient organisation.”

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10:50 am, Wednesday 14 November, 2012

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

A survey conducted during the Safety Culture Leadership Forum by the Master Builders Association in Canberra last month revealed that many construction bosses in Canberra believe the common approach to industry safety is to “tick and flick” paperwork (8 out of 10). Ninety four percent of the respondents agree that “the bottom line is just to get the job done.”

According to a Fairfax Media report, 125 mainly middle and senior managers were asked questions related to the safety culture on local construction sites during the forum. Workplace culture and safety consultant Dr Robert Long facilitated the survey.

Respondents included directors, managers, project managers, engineers, supervisors and foremen (94%), and construction workers (6%). They were given rapid-fire questions with only a few seconds to answer using a keypad. Fairfax Media further reported that this method is used to understand “gut feelings,” rather than give respondents time to regurgitate their company policy.

The survey showed that 9 out of 10 builders agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I take shortcuts when I can if it is safe.”

It also found that many of them perceived safety compliance as overly complex and burdensome. Most of the respondents did not believe that present regulations sufficiently prepared people for workplace safety.

According to Dr Long, hubris or “risk arrogance” is one of the most common cultural characteristics among industry personnel in building and construction.

“The idea that building and construction people perceive that they can manage anything indicates a lack of reflection, insight and understanding of risk uncertainty,” said Dr Long.

Half of the respondents said the key to safety was being careful but Dr Long said this response was naive as most people cannot tell the difference between “complacency” and being “careful.”

Eight in ten respondents believed that “safety processes are so complex when all you need is commonsense.” In addition, 73 percent agreed or strongly agreed that incidents tend to happen to careless people.

“This high percentage of people in building or construction who blame others, circumstance or themselves for events is fostered by simplistic understanding of risk … and totally misunderstands the nature of incident causation,” said Dr Long

There were contradictory responses including 77 percent agreeing or strongly agreeing that their organisation was prepared to deal with anything if it went wrong but only 49 percent agreeing their organisations are spending enough time in identifying possible work hazards or risks.

The survey also revealed that managers believe union’s approach to safety was unhelpful. Respondents believe union’s main strategy was to “bully” the workplace into health and safety.

A disregard for compliance was also seen with 59 percent of the respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that “building and construction industry is more concerned about not being caught than being safe.”

Eighty nine percent reported they were “so busy on safety paperwork we can’t really assess and manage the risks on site.”

Master Builders Association deputy executive director Jerry Howard said the results of the survey were “shocking but not surprising.” Mr Howard said the survey results only show that current regulation was not working to improve safety culture. He also said a sense of complacency was present not just among workers but also right up through the building hierarchy.

ACT WorkSafe Commissioner Mark McCabe said the department needs to do more work now.

“Clearly we have to do more now with less staff at a time when the ACT is experiencing a construction boom,” said Mr McCabe.

“This latest survey raises serious concerns about the approach being taken across the industry,” he said.

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