08:07 am, Friday 23 July, 2010

A man has been killed in an industrial shed explosion in Mackay on Wednesday.

Emergency services received several calls after the blast in Len Shield St, Paget, in north Queensland, at 2.38pm.

The man was found dead when emergency crews arrived at the aluminium fabrication business site.

According to a police spokesperson, the deceased had been working on a boat with other men when the incident took place. He said no one else was hurt.

The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) said before the explosion occurred, the group was performing welding work on a boat’s fuel tank.

QFRS area director Steve DePinto said the explosion “ripped through the roof of the building and there was debris over a fairly large area’’.

“It was quite a violent explosion and there was a subsequent fire that had to be extinguished in the aluminium boat.’’

The blast caused extensive damage to the industrial building.

Workplace Health and Safety investigators are looking into the industrial accident.

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09:59 am, Wednesday 30 June, 2010

An explosion on the deck of a ship off the central Queensland coast has caused burn injuries to a mariner yesterday.

According to Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins, two men were welding on the coal ship’s deck when a spark ignited.

Ms Jiggins said the 30-year-old Filipino national’s clothing caught fire, forcing him to jump overboard to put out the flames.

“Fortunately we don’t believe he has incredibly severe burns, but he does have some burns to his legs,” she said.

“[The burns] are not considered to be life threatening, but that vessel is currently making its way closer inshore so that we can get a helicopter with some medical staff out there to assist him.”

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08:26 am, Saturday 26 June, 2010

A manufacturing company has been ordered to pay a worker over an unfair termination due to unsafe work practices.

The company fired the worker on 29 September 2009. The man aggravated his preexisting back injury after trying to realign the welded panels of a welding machine.

The company believed it to be an unsafe action and dismissed the worker.

The worker, who worked for the company for 15 years, claimed unfair dismissal.

Fair Work Australia, agreeing with the worker, stated the manufacturing firm should have considered other less drastic disciplinary actions.

Fair Work Australia found reinstatement was no longer viable, and ordered the company to pay compensation equivalent to nine weeks’ pay instead.

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