03:57 pm, Tuesday 7 May, 2013

A 34-year-old plasterer had to be lowered from the second storey of a home construction site, where he was working this morning, with a hydraulic lift.

The ACT Fire and Rescue was called to assist the man because he was not able to use the scaffolding to get down.

ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said that safety inspectors had been at the site but were not concerned about safety there.

He said that the incident happened when the man bent over to pick up something and his back apparently locked up.

Mr McCabe doesn’t think that there are work safety issues with the incident.

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03:27 pm, Tuesday 7 May, 2013

Mark McCabe, the ACT Work Safety Commissioner, will be seeking the approval of the ACT government to impose $5000 on the spot fines on builders that do not dispose of asbestos correctly.

He said that too many builders are risking the health of workers and the public by investing the time and money necessary to safely remove asbestos.

Mr McCabe lifted an prohibition notice on a worksite in Griffith after work was stopped there last week following the discovery by the ACT Planning and Land Authority of bonded asbestos at the site when they checked on electrical issues.

A house was being demolished and the builder that was questioned said that he did not know that the building contained asbestos.

When ACT WorkSafe inspectors inspected the site they confirmed that there was contamination at the site and work was ordered to immediately stop. A licensed assessor and removalist were called to de-contaminate the site.

Mr McCabe said that this was common that a segment of builders in the ACT disregarded the law rather than ensure that asbestos is safely removed.

He said that this practice is happening far too often, which is why the option of enforcement is being looked at in the form of substantial on the spot fines as a “financial disincentive” to the builders that are not following the regulations.

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06:54 pm, Wednesday 24 April, 2013

The ACT Work Safety Commissioner, Mark McCabe has announced today the launch of a new safety campaign, Speak Up About Safety. The campaign aims to encourage workers and supervisors in the ACT to be actively involved in discussions about safety concerns.

The campaign will be an ongoing initiative and will kick-off with a series of advertisements on ACT buses, as well as posters in local workplaces.

“While this campaign has been initiated as just one of the responses to the Getting Home Safely report on safety in construction, this is an important message for all workplaces in all industries,” said Commissioner McCabe.

“One of the best ways to prevent workplace accidents is through active engagement of the workers at the coalface in discussion about their safety concerns. Workers will often be alert to safety issues that managers may not have noticed. Supervisors, for their part, may be aware of existing procedures or ‘controls’ which have been put in place to mitigate such risks. They will also be best placed to take action to address new or previously unidentified risks.”

“Work health and safety legislations works best when employers and their workers cooperate to either allay worker concerns or address the real risks workers at the coalface will often be the first to identify,” Mr McCabe said.

“Workers should be encouraged to raise their concerns about safety. Some of those concerns will be about important safety issues and some may simply reflect a lack of understanding by the workers about issues which have already been addressed. In either case, workers need to be encouraged to speak up rather than say nothing.”

“Speaking up may just save a life!”

Master Builders Australia, through its Executive Director, John Miller expressed their support for the campaign.

“MBA-ACT is pleased to join Work Safe ACT and other key industry stakeholders in the launch of this campaign designed to emphasize the absolute importance of good communication and cooperation needed in managing safety and continuously improving safety on local building and construction sites,” Mr Miller said today.

Both the HIA and CFMEU also expressed their support to the campaign.

Mr McCabe said he was particularly heartened by the support the campaign has received from different organisations.

“I think this campaign shows that employers and unions both care about workplace safety and that there is a willingness here in the ACT for all parties to work together to make our workplaces as safe as they can be,” the Commissioner said.

More information about the campaign can be found on the WorkSafe ACT website.

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06:47 pm, Wednesday 27 March, 2013

Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe
Photo: WorkSafe ACT

Work Safety ACT Commissioner Mark McCabe released a statement today in response to Master Builders Australia’s review of the Getting Home Safely report.

Mr McCabe said that while he recognises MBA’s commitment to addressing safety issues and their cooperation, some aspects of their statement regarding the report concerned him.

“The MBA’s lack of unequivocal support for the report’s call for a 35% improvement in the local industry’s safety record is potentially a serious setback for local workers,” said Mr McCabe. “In many senses this is a modest target. After all, if achieved it would simply bring us up to the national average, no more.”

“As difficult a target as this will be, however, its best chance of success lies in the united efforts of the industry, unions, the regulator and the Government to achieve it. The industry’s continuing denial of our local record, despite the MBA national office using this very same data in its own report on OHS Performance in the Construction Industry in November 2011, and the MBA referencing the national component of that data in their own submission to the Inquiry, is an impediment to change. A critical component in achieving change is an acceptance of the need for that change to occur.

“My other disappointment is in the MBA’s rejection of the report’s call for them, as one of the two significant industry representative bodies here in the ACT, to show the leadership the industry needs at this point in time.

“The Getting Home Safely report was a damning one for the local industry, and the calls for reform and change are significant. While I understand the difficulty in accepting such criticism, the industry has to do more than sit back and call on everyone else to lift their game while rejecting the pivotal importance of their own responsibilities,” he said.

In its review, the MBA did not support two of the report’s 28 recommendations. MBA said the development of frameworks “relating to the management of safety were not tasks an industry association such as the MBA could undertake” because of the diversity and size of organisations in the industry, and because “safety management is a fundamental corporate governance matter that rests with building companies and developers.”

MBA also said they should “promote and develop very specific ‘culture change’ training programs aimed at middle management,” which is an idea identified in the Getting Home Safely report.

“I am very heartened by the MBA’s support for the call for cultural change,” said Mr McCabe. “It is important, however, for local employers to recognise that cultural changes which works invariably does so as a result of a top-down approach. Such change needs to start with an employer’s management team, and gain genuine support and commitment there, before it moves on to a call for workers to also embrace the change needed.”

In February, the ACT government adopted all of the inquiry’s 28 recommendations. It also found that the ACT had the highest injury rate in Australia with one in every 40 workers expected to sustain serious injury at work every year.

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12:53 pm, Tuesday 19 February, 2013

A new incentive program has been launched on Monday by Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe to provide funding for healthier workplaces.

The ACT Small Business Workplace Health and Wellbeing Incentive Program aims to provide funding to organisations for activities which promote healthy lifestyle choices for ACT workers by targeting the following key health areas:

• Increased physical activity
• Healthier eating
• Reduction in harmful alcohol consumption
• Smoking reduction/cessation
• Improved social and emotional wellbeing

“The program, to be managed by Healthier Work, the ACT Government’s free workplace health support service, will provide funding for small businesses in the ACT to kick start health and wellbeing initiatives in their workplace or to extend and add value to existing programs,” said Mr McCabe.

The new program offers funding for workplaces of up to 50 employees, both in the private and community sectors to develop and implement health and wellbeing activities. Depending on the number of employees, organisations can apply for funding of up to $1000, $3000 or $5000.

“Some examples of activities workplaces could organise include on-site exercise classes, fruit and veggie baskets for staff, provision of counselling services or a health and wellbeing expo,” said Mr McCabe.

“Creating healthier working environments not only has real potential to positively influence the health of our workforce, it also makes good businesses sense – increasing employee engagement and team cohesiveness in the short-term and leading to reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and improved corporate image in the longer term.”

The program is part of a joint Australian and Territory Government initiatives under the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health, which is committed to reducing the risk of chronic disease.

Program applications commence 18 February and will close on Friday 12 April. To be eligible for funding, applicants must have had a visit from a Healthier Work Industry Advisor within six months prior to the date of application.

More information about the program can be accessed at the WorkSafe ACT website.

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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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02:58 pm, Friday 7 December, 2012

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Following SafetyCulture’s story on the inspections conducted by WorkSafe on ACT construction industry, Work safety commissioner Mark McCabe says the surprise inspections particularly at an apartment building in New Acton was prompted by complaints of poor safety practices received by the agency.

The construction site in Canberra’s city centre is due to be finished on Monday. According to ABC News, the apartment and commercial complex has been dubbed a red flag site by the work safety watchdog because of several safety compliance issues.

The site was shut down in October after a worker fell down a shaft and received serious injuries.

Mr McCabe confirmed that WorkSafe is considering taking the construction company responsible for the site construction to court for alleged safety breaches.

Eight WorkSafe inspectors who surveyed the site found several safety issues.

“Associated with falls from heights, trip hazards, issues to do with site security,” said Mr McCabe.

He also said the company even violated basic requirements like keeping a worksite clean.

“There was rubbish everywhere,” he said.

Mr McCabe also said safety watchdog’s move is a new approach after the damning report last month where the state’s construction industry was considered most dangerous in the country. Read SafetyCulture report.

Prohibition and improvement notices were issued. The company was also fined for failing to ensure that all its subcontractors were accredited to work on construction sites.

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