SafetyNet JOURNAL
SafetyNet Journal 132
Issue 132 - SafetyNet Journal 132
Welcome to SafetyNet Journal 132 - Your source for all the latest news from the local and global OHS world.
Union News
Research
WorkSafe News
Worksafe Prosecutions
International News
Events
Union News
Activities for reps
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA seeks volunteers
Volunteers needed to help Make Life Fair Everywhere – Do you have some spare time?
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA is the overseas aid agency of the ACTU.
A small organisation that relies on the generous support of volunteers, they need assistance with events, including conferences and fundraising and data entry.
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA’s office is based in Sydney but help is required with events in other states. Contact Antoinette Abboud aabboud@unionaidabroad.org.au or 02 9264 9343 to be part of the volunteer team.
States offer support to “co-operative” national IR system
The first meeting of national IR Ministers since the election of the Rudd Government was held in Melbourne on 1 February with IR reform and national OHS and workers compensation on top of the agenda.
The ministers released a communiqué following the meeting in which they unanimously supported using the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC) to “co-operatively pursue practical national solutions on workplace relations, occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation issues”.
Unions have called for the Rudd Government to make good on its promise to scrap AWAs and to ensure quality uniform OHS and workers compensation standards for all Australian workers.
Over 200 union leaders met in Canberra to plan their ongoing IR campaigns and to call for the reinstatement of rights lost under the previous government.
ACTU media release
ETU February OHS newsletter
The ETU OHS newsletter for February is out now. It features articles on new footwear for electricians and a reminder that new regulations come into effect from July 1 this year.
The February newsletter will be online soon.
Fed Court to hear John Holland case
The Federal Court will hear a significant case on union right of entry when Comcare licence-holder John Holland seeks to narrow interpretations of the Workplace Relations Act.
The national construction company is seeking to restrict the right of entry provisions in the act to a narrow range of elected union officials. The CFMEU is contesting the case and has called on NSW Premier Morris Iemma to intervene.
The union says that if successful the case will restrict up to 99% of union officials from having the right to enter a building site. This would be a disaster for health and safety standards, the union said.
The case will be heard before Justice Michael Moore on February 18.
John Holland Pty Ltd & Anor v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (NSW Branch) NSD1986/2007
Source: Workplace OHS
Building watchdog prosecutes employer over union access
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is prosecuting building contractor Iqon for allegedly not allowing two CFMEU organisers onto a Canberra building site to investigate possible safety breaches. It is the first time the watchdog, set up under the previous government, has targeted an employer over alleged IR breaches.
Unions have accused the ABCC of targeting construction workers and their unions over as part of the former Howard government’s attacks
That case will be heard in the Federal Magistrates Court on February 28.
Source: The Age
Unions urge action over industrial death figures
The ACTU has called for urgent action following the release of figures revealing Australia’s worsening workplace death toll. A report from the Australian Safety Compensation Council (ASCC) shows 162 people died at work in 2006 – 07, up from 157 in the previous 12 months.
ACTU President Sharan Burrow said the figures highlight the change to federal IR laws. She said the previous government’s WorkChoices legislation had reduced health and safety standards and made it more difficult for workers to express safety concerns.
Unions want the Rudd Government to ensure workers can meet union representatives in their workplace and allow OHS reps to fix problems.
ACTU media release
ASCC Report[pdf]
UFU seeks Health and Safety Representative Support Officer
The United Firefighters Union (Victorian Branch) is looking to appoint a Health and Safety Representative Support Officer on a part time 3 day per week basis for a fixed term. To be successful in this position, the Support Officer will be required to have knowledge of occupational health and safety, experience providing information and advice to Health and Safety Representatives, preparing written reports and undertaking industry research.
The Support Officer will be responsible for, amongst other things, maintaining the OHS section of the UFU website, liaising with and providing support, information and advice to HSRs, undertaking research into current and emerging health and safety issues in the firefighting industry and other administrative duties as required.
More information on the position.
ABC reports more cancer cases in Toowong cluster
The ABC has revealed two more possible cases of breast cancer in employees who worked at its former Toowong office in Brisbane. The revelations bring the number of women affected to 18 since 1994.
The additional cases were not reported to the original inquiry into the cancer cluster conducted by Professor Bruce Armstrong of the Sydney Cancer Centre which recommended abandoning the Toowong centre. The investigation found there was a cancer rate up to 11 times higher than would be expected amongst staff members but could find no obvious environmental cause at the site.
The ABC abandoned the premises in 2006 after the inquiry and staff criticism that it had not acted soon enough. The World Today program reported the two new cases. The MEAA has expressed concern that new cases were still being discovered so long after the inquiry.
Source: ABC online
OHS reps page on Radiation
Asbestos News
Family of asbestos victim donates $200,000
The family of a man who was awarded a record $2.75 million dollar payout from James Hardie has donated $200,000 to the research fund established by Slater& Gordon.
Tim Lacone died at age 58 in June last year after battling mesothelioma. He asked that the money be donated to Slater & Gordon's Asbestos Research Fund. The law firm also donated a further $300,000, bringing the fund’s total contributions to $1 million since 2004.
The fund has already spent $500,000 on research projects. Lawyer Peter Gordon praised Mr Lacone’s family for the donation and called on James Hardie and CSR to put more money into researching solutions to the problems their asbestos production created.
Read an interview with Peter Gordon.
UK: Asbestos groups welcome drugs decision
Groups in the UK supporting families affected by asbestos disease have welcomed the approval of the drug Alimta for the treatment of mesothelioma.
The move brings harmonisation to the UK where people in Scotland and Northern England had access to the drug whilst hundreds of people elsewhere missed out. Alimta is considered to be the most effective treatment for mesothelioma sufferers, improving quality of life for those affected by the cancer. It was listed on the Australian PBS last year following a sustained campaign by unions and mesothelioma sufferers.
Risks 340
TUC launches new safety guide online
The UK TUC has launched a new online safety guide. The website is the online version of the safety guide Hazards at work and features comprehensive guides to over 30 different hazards and risk areas.
The site also has resources to help health and safety reps in organising in their workplaces.
Colombia: Unionists face murder, threats, illegal arrest every day
Human rights violations against Colombian trade unionists increased in 2007 according to a report published by the national trade union school ENS.
At the beginning of December 2007 384 human right violations against Colombian trade unionists were recorded for the year.
This includes 38 trade unionists who have been assassinated. There have also been 16 armed attacks, 14 illegal arrests and also violations of trial procedures. Eleven trade unionists ‘disappeared’ and 95 trade unionists were forced to move. There were 201 registered cases of threats.
ICTUR Colombia bulletin
Congratulations to Hazards
on media award
The UK TUC’s Hazards magazine team have received a prestigious award for workplace journalism for the second year in-a-row. Workworld Media Award for journalism recognises excellence in reporting on work-related matters.
Hazards
beat some of the most-well resourced news organisations in the world to take out the award, including the BBC. The judges awarded the prize based on Hazards ‘for its use of the medium, its depth and seriousness, and its spiky determination to campaign for those at the rough end of working life’.
Hazards magazine
Work Foundation media release
US: Mining unions campaign against safety regulator
Unions have launched a campaign to force the regulator and Bush appointee, Richard Stickler, to investigate the breaches. They argue that incidents such as the
Meanwhile in Mexico over a quarter of a million Mexican miners walked off the job after government attacks on workers striking over appalling health and safety conditions at Mexico's largest copper mine, Cananea, in the northern state of Sonora.
Following a court judgement which declared the Cananea strike illegal around 700 state and federal security forces were sent in to evict the striking miners. Up to 40 miners were injured. The local mining union has since taken out an injunction against the decision.
Risks 340
International Meatworkers Federation media release
Research
GPs writing more sick certificates under WorkChoices
A study of General Practitioners in Australia has found they are writing more medical certificates since the introduction of WorkChoices. The report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows a 70% increase in the number of certificates issued in 2007.
Musculoskeletal problems were the most common work-related ailment treated followed by depression and stress. The most common musculoskeletal work-related problems were back complaints (14.8% of work-related problems), sprains and strains (10.4%), musculoskeletal injury (9.0%) and fractures (3.7%).
Work-related psychological problems accounted for 9.3% of work requests made to GPs with depression and stress being the most common.
General practice activity in Australia, 2006–07; Britt, Miller, Bayram, Henderson, Valenti, O’Halloran, Harrison, Fahridin; January 2008 [pdf]
Strains and manual handling
Stress
Shiftwork increases likelihood of retirement for woman
Danish research suggests shiftwork increases the risk of enforced early retirement due to ill-health for women.
The study of 3980 women found that those working shiftwork were over a third more likely to claim an early pension due to poor health than those who worked regular hours.
A 15 year prospective study of shift work and disability pension, Finn Tüchsen, Karl Bang Christensen , Thomas Lund and Helene Feveile Occup Environ Med. Published Online First: 15 January 2008. Abstract
Study: Non-standard shifts bad for workers returning to work
Research from the Ohio State University (OSU) has found that injured workers returning to work in jobs requiring non-standard hours are more likely to quit or be fired.
Non-standard schedules include any shift outside the regular eight-hour day or one of five types of extended work-hour schedules identified including extended hours per day, extended hours per week, overtime and extended commuting time.
The researchers found that injured workers returning to shifts longer than 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week are at the highest risk of losing their jobs when compared to those returning to jobs with conventional eight-hour day shifts and a 40-hour work week.
Associations Between Employees’ Work Schedules and the Vocational Consequences of Workplace Injuries; Allard E. Dembe, Rachel Delbos, J. Bianca Erickson and Steven M. Banks; Published in Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, Springer Netherlands; Volume 17, Number 4 / December, 2007; Abstract
Training does not prevent back injury
Lift training demonstrating the correct procedure for lifting heavy objects does not prevent back injuries, a study in the British Journal of Medicine has found.
The Finnish study reviewed all the current evidence available on the use of specific lifting techniques as a means of preventing injuries. Researchers found that contrary to common belief there was no evidence the advice had any effect.
Effect of training and lifting equipment for preventing back pain in lifting and handling: systematic review; Martimo, Verbeek, Karppinen, Furlan, Takala, Kuijer, Jauhiainen, Juntura; British Journal of Medicine [pdf]
WorkSafe News
Forklift accident under investigation
A man was hospitalised after around three tonnes of glass fell on him from a forklift at Clayton on 1 Feb. The man was helping unload the glass inside a shipping container when the load fell. WorkSafe is investigating the incident.
Forklift safety
Landslide expert appointed for Yallourn collapse probe
Respected geotechnical expert Tim Sullivan will lead the independent inquiry into the cause of the Yallourn coal mine wall collapse in November last year.
The mine was evacuated and machinery destroyed when a retaining wall adjoining the Latrobe River collapsed, spilling millions of litres of water into the open-cut mine.
Professor Sullivan has carried out extensive geotechnical investigations into landslides, including working on the Thredbo inquiry. Minister for Energy and Resources Peter Batchelor promised the inquiry would be independent and wide-ranging and would deliver its report to the government in July.
Mine operators TRUenergy and the Department of Primary Industries are also conducting inquiries into the disaster.
Source: ABC online
Mining review calls for changes on fatigue
A NSW mining review has called for the cessation of pay based schemes based on safety targets and has urged for an intervention strategy on fatigue and work hours.
The Digging Deeper report was commissioned by the Mine Safety Advisory Council and makes 25 recommendations which have been backed by the NSW Government.
Workplace OHS
Fatigue & Impairment
WorkSafe MRISC workshops
WorkSafe will hold workshops on the Maintenance, Repair, Installation, Servicing and Cleaning (MRISC) of machinery and equipment. The interactive workshop will demonstrate how planning and supervision can become part of your ‘business as usual’.
Workshops will be held between December 2007 and June 2008. Locations are: Mildura, Wangaratta, Ballarat, Geelong, Bendigo and Warragul, as well as Melbourne’s South-East, North, North-East and West.
Learn more and register at the WorkSafe website.
Resources
- Guide to Incident Notification
- Licence to Perform High Risk Work - Primary Producers and Forestry Operators - FAQ's
- WorkCover Tasmania – safety alert on chemical safety and tank decontamination
- WorkCover New South Wales - alert on operating earth-moving equipment near water
The NSW Department of Primary Industries has issued two safety alerts on electrical incidents and another on lightning strikes:
WorkSafe Week presentations now available online
WorkSafe has a new webpage for quarries
WorkSafe has launched a safety topic webpage for the quarrying industry. It has sections on risks in the industry, OHS legislation that applies to the industry and information on how to comply. On January responsibility for administering OHS in quarries (and mines) transferred from the Department of Primary Industries to WorkSafe Victoria. VWA webpage
Worksafe Prosecutions
Chubb Security fined $80,000 for pedestrian death
Chubb Security has been fined $80,000 over the death of a pedestrian after they subcontracted out traffic management to another company whose workers were inexperienced. The incident occurred in Glen Waverley in October 2003.
A woman died after being hit by a reversing utility as she was walking on the road where works were being conducted. Chubb Security had submitted a Traffic Management Plan and letter to VicRoads which inaccurately claimed that the works would not affect pedestrians.
WA WorkSafe: 'Ignorance' no excuse for OHS failures
WA WorkSafe has won an appeal against a Perth Magistrates Court decision to dismiss OHS charges against a builder who claimed he was unaware of the risks which led to the death of a worker in 2002.
In the original trial in 2005 Perth Magistrate Peter Malone said there was no evidence to suggest the builder should have known about the inadequate restraint which caused concrete panels to collapse, trapping and killing the worker. However the appeal judge found that it was no defence to claim that the person owing the duty of care was ignorant of the hazard if there were means available for preventing it.
A penalty has yet to be decided.
WASC, Reilly v Tobiassen, 6/2008 [pdf]
International News
China: Work deaths in focus in lead-up to games
China has promised to crackdown on workplace deaths as the country comes under increased scrutiny in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Authorities say moves to prosecute over 200 managers and officials over a range of recent incidents where people died show they are taking the issue seriously.
A recent report in the UK media claimed at least 10 workers have been killed while working on the Olympic stadium in the rush to finish the project. The Sunday Times based its report on interviews with employees at the massive building site in the Chinese capital.
Many workers employed on the project are poorly educated migrant labourers from inland provinces with little training and no experience of such large-scale building projects.
More than 100,000 people die in workplace incidents in China every year, although unofficial estimates put the number even higher due to the under reporting of accidents by corrupt local officials.
Risks 340
New EU information on stress
UK: HSE launches web tool to help manage OHS risks in construction
The UK Health and Safety Executive has launched a new web based tool to help contractors understand and manage OHS risks. The tool, called the Construction Occupational Health Management Essentials (COHME), is based on guidances published over the years.
COHME is intended to assist clients, designers and contractors and deals with 7 priority risks: hand-arm vibration; musculo-skeletal disorders; dermatitis; noise; stress; respiratory disease; and asbestos.
Events
Labour Law Seminar for 2008
Professor Judy Fudge will speak on the topic Control over Working Time: Lessons from Canada.
Monday 18th February 2008
Time: 1pm, Venue: Room G27 (Ground Floor), Melbourne Law School
RSVP: law-celrl@unimelb.edu.au.
Safety in Action Conference - April 29 to May
The Safety in Action Conference with over 70 Australian & international speakers covering the latest issues in OHS will be held from April 29 to May 1 this year.
The Conference is featuring a line-up featuring Jerry Ellis (ANZ Chair and former Monash Uni Chancellor and BHP Director) and Ziggy Switkowski.
Safety In Action
Training at VTHC
The OHS Training Unit has a range of courses coming up in 2008. Check out the training page of the website for all the latest news and sign up for courses.
Contact Judith Rodda on 03 9663 5460 for more information on scheduled courses or what we can do for your workplace, and to enrol.
INITIAL 5-DAY METROPOLITAN (for Elected OHS Reps under the Victorian OHS Act - this course is approved by the VWA under Section 67)
February 18 - 22 Initial Ringwood
March 3 - 7 Initial Frankston
March 3 - 7 DET (Education) Carlton
March 3 - 7 Initial Carlton
March 17, 18, 26, 27, 28 Initial Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $620.00INITIAL 5-DAY COUNTRY
February 18 – 22 Initial Morwell
February 25 – 29 Initial Ballarat
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $650.00COMCARE 5-DAY OHS REPS COURSE (for Elected OHS Reps under the Comcare Act)
April 28 - May 2 Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $650.002-DAY METROPOLITAN
This 2-day course is an overview designed for managers, supervisors and committee members. It is NOT a replacement for the VWA approved 5-day training for elected reps.
March 17 and 18 General Carlton
Course hours: 9.30am - 4.30pm. Course fee $350.001-DAY REFRESHER
The Refresher course is approved by the VWA under Section 67 of the Victorian OHS Act 2004 for elected reps and deputies.
March 13 Manual Handling Carlton
March 13 Legislative Update Geelong
March 14 Legislative Update Carlton
March 19 Legislative Update Bendigo
March 20 Legislative Update Frankston
March 20 Legislative Update Ringwood
Course hours: 9am - 4.30pm. Course fee $180.00
Go to the 2008 Training program page to download an application form.