01:28 pm, Monday 24 June, 2013

New fines to be issued on the spot in the ACT will be implemented from next Monday the 1^st July. This will extend the quantity of offences that can earn fines of $3600 and place the responsibility for safety more on the shoulders of ACT employers than workers.

Simon Corbell, Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations Minister, confirmed that the ACT government is dedicated to ensuring that all of the Getting Home Safely report recommendations are implemented.

He said that giving inspectors the ability to issue these fines will lead to an improvement in approach towards safety in the workplace from employers and workers alike.

ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said that it is expected that the new schedule of fines will also remove some of the pressure currently on the court system.

From next week safety inspectors will be authorised to issue on the spot fines for workplace safety breaches such as:

- Not notifying WorkSafe ACT of notifiable incidents;

- Not providing first-aid equipment;

- Not providing personal protective equipment;

- Not providing training and instruction on the use of personal protective equipment;

- Not preparing a safe work method statement for high risk construction work;

- Not ensuring work is carried out in accordance with a safe work method statement;

- Not stopping work if the work is not being carried out in accordance with the safe work method statement;

- Not minimising the risk of collapse of trenches;

- Not preparing a work health and safety management plan;

- Not ensuring a worker has undergone construction induction training.

Mr McCabe said that the fines will target employers rather than employees, $720 for an individual and $3600 for a company, and help to ensure that health and safety is immediately improved rather than having to wait for issues to be resolved through the court.

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11:14 pm, Monday 3 June, 2013

Asbestos has been reportedly found at Queensland national broadband network (NBN) worksites.

At one site it was water blasted onto workers faces inside an underground telecommunications pit in Brisbane and at another site in Mackay asbestos dust was left unattended for five days.

Jarrod Bleijie, the state Attorney-General, said that he is concerned about the workers in the state not having the training or protection to safely deal with asbestos after the discoveries by the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland were made known.

The safety breaches with asbestos include:

- In March two workers were water blasted by asbestos in a pit in Carseldine

- In Mackay asbestos dust was left for five days after a concrete pipe was cut in April

- Asbestos was abandoned on a footpath and workers wore the incorrect safety masks

- In Banyo two workers used respirators incorrectly

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04:12 pm, Thursday 7 March, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

A WorkSafe VIC safety blitz found 90 safety breaches on housing construction sites across western Victoria last month.

WorkSafe inspectors inspected almost 120 housing construction sites in and around Bendigo, Ballarat, Mildura, Warrnambool and Geelong as part of their Operation SafeSite program.

WorkSafe Chief Executive, Denise Cosgrove said everyone should be concerned with workplace safety.

“It was pleasing to see some sites had heeded warnings about the blitz and made sure safety was up to scratch before inspectors arrived,” said Ms Cosgrove.

Fifty one improvement notices were issued by site inspectors requiring businesses to fix health and safety breaches. Thirty nine breaches were identified and were dealt with on the spot.

Ms Cosgrove said workers and businesses can take simple steps to improve site safety.

“Having the site fenced, kept clean of building rubble and waste and ensuring electrical tools are safe are just some of the simple steps that can make a real difference to workers and public safety.

“The risks on housing sites are well known and so are the control measures. Safety doesn’t just happen – it requires planning, having effective controls in place and regular supervision to ensure the site remains safe,” she said.

Follow-up visits will be conducted in the coming weeks to make sure that all health and safety breaches have been addressed.

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12:13 pm, Thursday 13 December, 2012

A former owner of a go-kart business in Port Stephens was fined after a woman’s hijab got caught in one of the vehicle’s wheels, killing her.

On 8 April 2010, the 26-year-old victim from Yagoona was riding around the track when the hem of her garment got caught in the rear axle of a go-kart. She suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene.

An investigation conducted by WorkCover found that the then-owner failed to ensure that people riding go-karts were instructed to secure their clothing more firmly to their body, remove the clothing, or otherwise stop them from riding all together, and to check on people wearing loose clothing.

The owner also failed to properly guard moving parts of the go-karts to prevent people or their clothing from becoming caught in them. It was also found that the track was not properly supervised and there was no warning system in case of an emergency.

The go-kart business owner was charged with a breach of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000. He pleaded guilty and the Industrial Court of NSW fined him $32,000 and ordered him to pay $18,000 in court costs.

WorkCover NSW’s Director Peter Dunphy said the risk to serious injury or death could have been avoided in this situation.

“What is particularly unfortunate about this case is that there were simple and well-known steps that could have taken to prevent this incident from happening,” said Mr Dunphy.

“The operator should have asked the person to secure any loose-fitting clothing before being allowed to take part in the go-kart ride.

“This is a sad reminder of the need to maintain proper safety protocols. This company did not do this and a young woman was fatally injured,” he said.

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11:39 am, Friday 31 August, 2012

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Builders and sub-contractors return to work at a construction site today after days of demonstrating over alleged safety breaches.

AAP reported that members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) chanted “the workers united, will never be defeated” as padlock was removed and workers entered the site.

According to CFMEU NSW secretary Brian Parker, work resumed at the site after workers were given permission to carry out a safety inspection.

“We’re happy that the workers have got what they want- one safety walk convened on the job – and they will identify if there’s any issues relating to safety,” Mr Parker told AAP.

Demonstrations started on Wednesday after union claims piping fell from a crane and plywood fell from the site over the past fortnight.

A union meeting will be held outside the site on Monday to tackle any further issues.

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01:45 pm, Thursday 23 August, 2012

More than 85 improvement notices were issued to small businesses in Shepparton during the ‘Safe Towns’ workplace blitz last week.

WorkSafe Group Leader for Shepparton, Simon Brown was happy to see that some businesses were prepared for the inspection but said that there was still room for improvement in some workplaces.

“It was pleasing that a number of employers took a proactive approach to the inspections, however we still saw a significant number of safety issues in some workplaces,” said Mr Brown.

“We’ll be conducting follow up visits in the coming weeks to ensure businesses have fixed the identified safety breaches and are providing a safe working environment for their workers.”

He also said that the inspectors received positive response from the workplaces they visited.

“Generally workplaces were very receptive to the visits and saw them as a good opportunity to improve and learn about safety in their workplaces,” he said.

“I urge businesses to maintain this positive attitude to safety and not to become complacent about risks on the job.”

“No one wants to be responsible for an incident in their workplace, so the Shepparton blitz serves as a good reminder to make safety a top priority.”

Some safety issues identified during the inspection include inappropriate storage of dangerous goods and failing to have up-to-date material safety data sheets. Inspectors also found electrical issues on construction sites, inadequate systems in place to ensure separation of pedestrians from mobile plant, forklift hazards, issues with pallet racking and slip/trip hazards.

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06:22 pm, Friday 9 March, 2012

A visit to Bendigo by WorkSafe inspectors last week uncovered a number of health and safety breaches with 117 notices issued to concerned businesses.

Notices which require businesses to act on breaches by a certain date include forklift maintenance, guarding, racking, traffic management, personal protective equipment and insufficient return to work information. Sixty breaches were dealt with on the spot.

Inspectors visited 212 Bendigo workplaces as part of the Safe Towns campaign. WorkSafe’s General Manager for Operations, Lisa Sturzenegger, said that the campaign was received well by Bendigo businesses.

“It was great to find some standout businesses making health and safety a priority with inspectors walking away without having to issue any notices.

“We also came across businesses that had made attempts to address issues before the visit and welcomed the opportunity to discuss matters with an inspector.”

Ms Sturzenegger said that many of the issues identified by inspectors in Bendigo were easy to fix at little to no cost. She encouraged employers to find new ways to address workplace matters.

She also said that more than half of injury claims in Victoria each year are related to dangerous manual handling practices. Treatment and rehabilitation of injured Bendigo workers over the past five years had cost local businesses $41 million.

“This adds considerably to business costs through higher workplace injury insurance premiums and lost productivity.

“We also find in many prosecutions that businesses admit they were aware of an issue but failed to fix it. In many cases this has resulted in an injury, a conviction and a large fine.

“Not addressing health and safety matters can have devastating effects for workers and businesses. We urge businesses to stay on top of potential hazards, no matter how small or large they might be.

“With the notices issued last week, it is important that they are addressed as the inspectors would return to ensure they’ve been dealt with. If they are not dealt with, a prosecution often follows.”

Bendigo was the second regional area this financial year to be visited by a team of WorkSafe inspectors as part of the Safe Towns campaign. Echuca received a visit in August 2011 where 198 improvement notices were issued.

Safe Towns visits will also take place in South Geelong/Breakwater, Ballarat and Traralgon in coming months.

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