Issue 143 - SafetyNet Journal 143
Welcome to SafetyNet Journal 143, your source for the latest OHS news from Australia and the world.Union News
Research
WorkSafe News
Worksafe Prosecutions
International News
Union News
Activities and news for reps
Reminder: Submissions to Model OHS Laws review close Friday 11 July
The ACTU, VTHC and affiliates have produced submissions into the National review into Model OHS Laws. If you or your organisations wish to make a submission you must do so by close of business Friday 11 July.
Of fundamental importance to unions is that the harmonisation will lead to an improvement in OHS protection for all workers around Australia. The review must deliver the highest standards of protection for workers. There are three points to consider:
- Every worker must be better off from this review;
- Employers will gain from this process – by reducing costs through having just one law. Employers can afford to improve standards for workers; and
- An adoption of the Victorian OHS model will not deliver the highest possible standards
You can read a summary of the union submission to the review on the website.
There’s a new forum on the site on the model OHS Act. What are your views? What do you think are the most important features that should be in the OHS Act?
Model OHS Act - Your Say
AIG seeks low OHS protections
The Australian Industry Group is seeker lower OHS protections through the new laws in a move that has upset unions. The AIG has called for the rejection of the NSW standard of care, which places the burden of proof on the employer in relation to workplace injuries. They want something closer to the Victorian approach, which places the burden on the prosecution to show that the employer did not take “reasonably practicable” action to. The AIG also called for NSW’s union right to prosecute over safety matters to not be taken up in the model act.
CFMEU National Secretary Dave Noonan said the move was disappointing and that industry needed a robust enforcement regime in which workers’ rights are protected and standards are not watered down. The CFMEU's submission calls for harmonisation to the "highest common denominator".
Sources: The Australian & Occupational Health News
Ask Renata –
Can a person who has successfully completed a TAFE course on tagging and testing tag and test portable tools and leads?
The main issue is ensuring that the person who is undertaking the testing and tagging is competent to do so. Advice from EnergySafe Victoria is that either a qualified electrician or someone who has successfully completed an approved course at a TAFE college can carry out the checking and tagging of equipment – it must be done as per AS/NZS 3760. There are also a number of electrical contractors who specialise in the checking and tagging equipment - check the Yellow Pages.
Electrical Equipment - What are the laws/guidelines?
Do you have an OHS-related query? If so, Ask Renata
New pages on website
- Summary of Part 5.3 – Mines and 6.1 Licences of the regulations
- also summary of the sections specifically dealing with OHS reps in the Act
Stand with our ambos
Stand with our ambos, for a better, safer ambulance service! That’s the message from the Ambulance Employees Association which is campaigning for a safer ambulance service. The union has found that more than one-third of Victoria's paramedics may walk away from their jobs because of dissatisfaction with fatigue and other work issues.
A survey of 20% of members found one third of Victorian of ambos are ready to consider quitting with 75% citing fatigue as a major factor. A key demand in current EBA negotiations is for 10 hour rest-breaks between shifts. That will allow ambos to rest properly between shifts, which are often more than 14 hours long.
Go to the website to read more about the campaign and to send a message to the Premier supporting our ambos.
How could climate change affect you as a worker?
The ACTU is warning that working Australians will be hit hard by inaction on climate change and urgent action is needed. Responding to the release of the Garnaut Report, the peak union body called for a united approach from government, business and the community to respond to the crisis.
The Garnaut Report estimates working Australians will face job losses in key industries, including agriculture and tourism, as well as wage cuts of between 7.8% and 14.8% depending on the severity of climate change-induced drought. Unions have also joined forces with other community and social change organisations to form a powerful new climate alliance to lobby government for a strong stance on climate change.
The Southern Cross Climate Coalition: an alliance of the Climate Institute, The Australian Conservation Foundation, The Australian Council of Social Service, and the Australian Council of Trade Unions has released a joint statement calling for the Prime Minister to:
- Stand his ground against special pleading from certain sections of industry
- Take the call for urgent action from Garnaut to the G8 next week
- Do everything possible to get a broadly based emissions trading scheme fully implemented by 2010.
ACTU media release
Southern Cross Climate Coalition Media release
Developers attempt to push out CFMEU on subbies' safety
Victorian property developers are trying to squeeze the CFMEU out of its role in OHS in construction of medium-density housing. Developers, lead by Lend Lease, are lobbying to have medium-density housing construction built through the subcontracting system as used for free-standing houses. It is a convention in the industry that apartments of more than three storeys are built by union labour while low-rise free-standing houses are built using cheaper subcontractor labour.
Victorian Assistant Secretary of the CFMEU, Bill Oliver, has warned that the move will lead to greater safety issues in the industry, as sub-contractors are less reliable and not well regulated.
Workplace OHS
Asbestos news
Asbestos sufferers die waiting for compo
People suffering from mesothelioma in NSW are dying before their compensation cases are completed due to a cost-saving system introduced in 2005, a Sydney judge says. Judge Bill Kearns said in a judgement handed down last month that the referral of compensation cases to mediation as a way of cutting down legal costs was denying asbestos sufferers natural justice. Often asbestos victims find themselves facing a court in the last weeks of their life due to the
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
OHS Reps – asbestos campaign
Asbestos scare at Westfield Doncaster Shopping Town
CFMEU members walked off the job at the Westfield Doncaster Shopping Town due to concerns over the removal of asbestos at the site. The union believed the builder, Westfield Constructions, was not properly removing asbestos that had been found according to health and safety laws. The union believed demolition work was being done without any reference to the previous asbestos audit. Pat Preston, the CFMEU OHS Manager, told SafetyNet that the matter was now being properly handled with a new asbestos audit being done for the site.
Herald Sun
OHS Reps – Checklist on employers’ duty on asbestos
GARDS May – June newsletter online
GARDS – Gippsland Asbestos Related Disease Society newsletter is available now [pdf]. Apart from information on a number of GARDS activities, the newsletter has updates on three research projects underway: “A Very Public Death: The experience of mesothelioma & Asbestos-related lung cancer in the Latrobe Valley”; The Latrobe Valley cohort study being run through Melbourne University; and a Latrobe University/Austin Hospital study “Breathlessness Issues of People Living with Asbestosis in the Community.”
Other news
Roundtable on Nanotechnology
Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, invited a academics, industry and civil society representatives to Canberra this week to discuss nanotechnology issues. Renata Musolino, from the VTHC Unit, represented the VTHC and the ACTU. Senator Carr heard that while Australia was a relatively small player globally, we nevertheless have a high level of expertise in this emerging technology, and despite its many potential benefits, there were many areas of concern. One of the main concerns is that almost all regulation of chemicals focuses on the chemical properties of substances – the whole ‘point’ of manufactured nanoparticles is the manipulation of their physical properties.
ETUC adopts precautionary approach on nanomaterials
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has adopted its first resolution on nanotechnology and nanomaterials. The resolution is an important step in ensuring that the risks inherent in this emerging technology are fully acknowledged. The ETUC took the decision in light of the ‘significant uncertainties …around the harmful effects of manufactured nanomaterials on human health and the environment’ and recent research suggesting that carbon nanotubes may cause mesothelioma. The basic demand is that the precautionary principle must apply to nanomaterials. Senator Carr was given a copy of the resolution.
You can read the Statement and Resolution.
The call for the application of the precautionary principle is supported by The Lancet Oncology, one of the world's top cancer journals. Responding to research this year that suggested a possible mesothelioma risk from exposure to carbon nanotubes, an editorial in the July edition of the journal says until 'knowledge has caught up with the technological advances, it would be wise to invoke the Precautionary Principle to ensure health and safety measures are sufficiently rigorous to decrease the possibility of health risks to industry workers.'
Leading Edge: Space elevators, tennis racquets, and mesothelioma, The Lancet Oncology, volume 9, number 7, page 601, July 2008. DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70157-8
Risks 363
Read more about the issues with Nanotechnology
Radioactivity fears force ABC to abandon new Brisbane site
The ABC has decided not to build its new Brisbane headquarters on a site in Newstead after testing found elevated levels of radioactive material in the area. The move comes after the national broadcaster abandoned its old Brisbane studios in Toowong due to a cancer cluster amongst workers.
The ABC has commenced action in the Supreme Court to cancel the purchase of the land at the new site.
Source: ABC
No charges over Beaconsfield mine death: Company
The company at the centre of the Beaconsfield mine disaster says no charges will be laid over the death of miner Larry Knight who was killed in a tunnel collapse that trapped two other workers underground for 14 days. Lawyers for Beaconsfield Gold have urged the coroner to adopt the findings of a State Government investigation released last year, thereby avoiding a lengthy and expensive inquest.
However lawyers for the Knights family and AWU want the inquest to continue. Witnesses will be heard when the inquest resumes on 22 July.
The Mercury
ETU OHS Reps newsletter now online
The June edition of the ETU OHS Reps newsletter [pdf] is now available online.
Injured security guard wins $720k payout
A security guard injured while evicting a drunk patron from a Melbourne mall has been awarded $720,790 in damages from his former employer, Chubb Security. The Victorian Supreme Court found the senior guard suffered permanent back injuries in 2002 when he fell to the ground during a scuffle with a drunk patron he was trying to remove from the Southgate shopping complex where he worked. The guard sued Chubb, claiming it had failed to provide him with proper training and failed to conduct an adequate risk assessment for evicting patrons from the Southgate complex. He also claimed Chubb had not put in place a safe system of work, including an appropriate system by which staff of PJ O'Brien's, rather than Chubb, would remove patrons ejected from the hotel from the Southgate premises. Justice Kaye agreed with the claims and ordered Chubb to pay damages for negligence.
VSC, Anastasiou v Chubb Security (Aust) Pty Ltd, 211/2008
Occupational Health News 788
International Union news
Sports goods firms and unions working together as Olympics approach
On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, key sporting goods brands including Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Umbro and Speedo have formed a groundbreaking joint working group with trade unions and campaign groups. The move follows criticism of labour rights and safety abuses in firms producing Olympic branded goods.
The joint group will determine how to prioritise and encourage union organisation, collective bargaining and social dialogue. A statement from global garment workers' union federation ITGLWF said the new group will seek to establish a better understanding of how business is done, covering aspects including manufacturing systems, costings, productivity, and information required for effective contract bargaining and dialogue.
ITGLWF news release ITUC news release Play Fair 2008
Risks 363
Research
EMF exposure may affect male f*rtility
Exposures to ambient magnetic fields may affect the quality of human sp*rm and may well explain its well-documented decline over the last few decades, according to a new study by De-Kun Li, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente in California.
"The longer you are exposed, the higher the risk," Li was quoted in Microwave News. He presented these new findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, held in Chicago. He has submitted them for publication.
"If it holds up, this would be very important because magnetic field exposures are ubiquitous," Li said. "We know that sp*rm quality has been going down for a long time with the largest declines in urban areas. That would be consistent with EMF exposures which are highest in cities."
Microwave News
WorkSafe News
Man flown to hospital after electric shock
A man was flown to hospital after a scissor lift hit power lines near Mildura on Wednesday 9 July. WorkSafe is investigating the incident which happened at a construction site in Merbein around 2 p.m. The man is aged about 50.
Investigations are at an early stage. It’s understood he was carrying out maintenance on the scissor lift when it struck power lines. WorkSafe believes he was not on the scissor lift when he received the shock.
A linesman died at Mornington on 3 April after receiving an electric shock while working to restore power after a wind-storm.
VWA media release
WorkSafe Vic issues response to Qld deaths
Following the recent double fatality in Queensland where a scaffold collapsed, WorkSafe Vic has issued warning and reminded industry of a booklet and guide produced some years ago: What you need to know about Suspended Scaffolds [pdf]
Resources and materials
Bridge and Gantry Cranes and Lifting Accessories
This one page publication outlines inspection and disposal of bridge and gantry cranes and lifting accessories [Download]
Road freight - Unloading tautliners in high-wind conditions
This document provides solutions for ensuring drivers are protected when handling tautliner curtains in high-wind conditions [Download]
A Practical Guide to Safety Leadership
The Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (FSC) has launched a new guide titled, "A Practical Guide to Safety Leadership". The guide, developed by the CRC for Construction Innovation, is a follow up resource for "A Construction Safety Competency Framework: Improving OH&S performance by creating and maintaining a safety culture."
Media release
Use of non-potable water in workplaces
Information bulletin from the ACT Government on safe use of non-potable water in workplaces.
Use of non-potable water in workplaces [pdf]
Worksafe Prosecutions
Company fined $100k for incidents involving Chinese workers
A series of safety incidents involving exploitation of Chinese guest workers has resulted in a company receiving fines totalling $100,000. Campbellfield company, Lakeside Packaging Pty Ltd, employed the men on s457 visas and committed a series of serious OHS breaches which resulted in injuries to two men. As noted in the last edition of SafetyNet, the workers were forced to work in blatantly unsafe conditions. One worker was forced to return to work with a broken arm, only to injure the other.
VWA media release
Bluey gets it wrong on asbestos removal
An unlicensed asbestos removalist has learnt an expensive lesson after being convicted and fined in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Skye Matthew Lennon, trading as Bluey's Rubbish Removal, was fined a total of $20,000 for his bodgie unlicensed removal job in West Footscray in April 2006.
A home owner contacted Skye Matthew Lennon in response to a newspaper ad for a quote on asbestos removal from her 1940s home. He and another man, “Muss” – who purported to be a licensed removalist, attended her home
Only the vigilance of the home-owner prevented her potential exposure to the deadly substance after she returned home to find the front yard strewn with asbestos materials and an inadequate job done internally. She had to call in another, licensed removalist to finish the job.
The Court found the defendant was naïve and foolishly did not check the credentials of the person he engaged to remove the asbestos. The magnitude of the fine was issued in part to reflect the seriousness of the potential asbestos exposure and to serve as a deterrent to others in the industry.
OHS Reps – Licensed asbestos removalist pages
International News
China mine disasters kill
At least 21 miners were killed by carbon monoxide gas poisoning in a coal mine in northern China, the latest in a series of disasters in an industry stretched by increasing energy demand. Seven other miners escaped from the Wujiu Coal Line in Datong, a major coal-producing region of Shanxi province. Another four were helped out, a Datong city official told Xinhua news agency. But more may have died. The incident follows a disaster in which 18 miners died in a mine collapse in north-west China.
China will close more than 4,000 small coal mines to reduce their total number to below 10,000 by 2010 according to safety officials quoted in Chinese media. The plan comes in response to the spate of fatalities in Chinese mines in recent times.
Sources: Xinhua ABC ABC
Japan: Toyota engineer died from 'overwork'
A Japanese labour bureau has ruled that one of Toyota Motor Corp's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest decision against overwork in Japan, where stoic acceptance of extended overtime has long been the norm. In the two months up to his death, the worker averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, the criteria for overwork according to the Aichi Labour Bureau.
It is the most recent in a string of decisions against long working hours in Japan, which is struggling to cut down on deaths from overworking, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognised the phenomenon in 1987.
Source: The Age