Occupational Health And Safety Reps. Information, Advice, Support...Speaking Up Together

Issue 145 - SafetyNet Journal 145

Welcome to SafetyNet Journal 145, your source for the latest OHS news from Australia and the world.

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Union News
Research
WorkSafe News
Worksafe Prosecutions
International News

Union News

Activities and news for reps

WorkCover Needs Fixing site online now
VTHC has concerns that it will be more difficult for Victorian workers to claim workers compensation for stress. The VTHC has launched its campaign to highlight the problems with the WorkCover compensation scheme in response to the Hanks Review of workers comp. To be injured at work is bad enough, but to be injured in Victoria is even worse. WorkCover in Victoria holds the record for rejecting new claims by injured workers. Victoria rejects 14.1% of WorkCover claims, yet in Queensland only 3.8 % are rejected!
Go to the Fix WorkCover site to find out more about what’s going on.

National Review update
The race to harmonise Australia’s OHS laws is well and truly underway. A host of organisations have made 242 submissions to the review panel. These submissions can be viewed on the submissions page of the National Review website.
The ACTU has details on what unions want in the harmonised laws and also a petition calling for the highest possible standards to apply.
Here at SafetyNet we’re interested to hear your thoughts on the issues and so you’re invited to make comments via the Forum on the topic on The OHS reps site.
National Review media release  

Construction worker loses leg in pillar crush
A construction worker suffered serious injuries when a concrete pillar fell at a site in Melbourne’s west last week. Pat Preston, OHS Manager with the CFMEU, told SafetyNet that the 27-year-old worker’s legs were crushed when the 22 tonne pillar fell. He suffered serious injuries and doctors were unable to save one of his legs. The young father is still in an induced coma at time of publication. WorkSafe is investigating what happened.
The incident highlights the dangers faced in the construction industry and comes as unions campaign against national laws which subject construction workers to fewer rights than the broader workforce via the ABCC. ACTU Secretary, Jeff Lawrence, said that several recent serious workplace accidents have again shown that construction is an industry in which safety, rather than a misguided attack on workers’ rights, should be a priority.
The Age    ACTU media release 

Beaconsfield inquest reveals managers ignored safety advice

The inquest into the death of Beaconsfield miner Larry Knight has heard evidence from a former production engineer that managers ignored key safety advice in the lead up to the incident in 2006. Diego Barua told the inquest  managers ignored a safety recommendation that two deep tunnels should not be worked simultaneously. The inquest has also heard claims that the mine set unrealistic performance targets before the rockfall. 
Occupational health and safety expert, Professor Michael Quinlan, told the inquest that Tasmania's Chief Inspector of Mines was too busy to visit the mine in the lead-up to the fatal rockfall despite there being 24 other rockfalls in the two-and-a-half years before the incident.
The Australian     ABC news 

TCFUA launches new industry plan
The Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) has launched a campaign to highlight the special needs of its members in response to a Federal Government review of the TCF industry. You can show your support for an industry that has suffered a decade of neglect under the Howard Government.
Make it Well, Make it Fair, Make it Here campaign  

Asbestos news

ASCC agrees to work on asbestos
publish a literature review on Asbestos exposure, management and control: national and international experiences, in line with its decision in May 2007 to improve the collection of information on mesothelioma.

• conduct further research into this area.
• publish a study, Preparing an estimate of the national pattern of exposure to asbestos in cases of malignant mesothelioma. 
• further work toward the future operation of the Australian Mesothelioma Register and will consider a business case canvassing options for its enhancement at its next meeting

Some of this work has been pushed by unions for a number of years. Last year the ASCC had decided to discontinue keeping the mesothelioma register, until concerns were raised by the ACTU and academics. 
ASCC Communiqué  [pdf]

EU regulators move on nanotechnology
EU chemicals regulators have approved the first changes to the EU’s REACH regulation. A member state committee agreed to amend a list of chemicals exempted from a general substance registration requirement of the law. Exemptions for carbon and graphite have been removed. Campaigners at green group WWF welcomed the decision, which they said was needed to close a loophole in which carbon nanoparticles could have been systematically exempted from REACH. However, they said the one-tonne production volume threshold for registration will in practice exclude many of them anyway. The one tonne limit potentially means vast numbers of the tiny particles will not be subject to the registration requirement.
OHS reps section on Nanotechnology

Stressed teachers paid out $17m in three years

Principals and teachers in Victorian schools have been paid out more than $17 million over three years for workplace stress, abuse and violence. Reports in The Age newspaper on State Government figures show more than 600 teachers and principals were forced to take stress leave between 2004 and June 2007, unable to cope with the pressures of their job. Workplace stress was the most common problem, with 234 WorkCover claims paid out over that time.
But the figures also show more than 26 cases of assault from parents or students, 40 cases in which teachers and principals were exposed to workplace violence, and 163 cases of harassment.
The Age    OHS Reps pages on Stress   and Bullying and Violence 

Fines for workplace deaths reflect only a fraction of true cost
A study by Access Economics on the statistical value of a human life has put the figure at $6 million. Yet new research shows that in New South Wales the average penalty imposed on a construction employer convicted over a workplace death is just $88,000. The research was included in a CFMEU submission to a review of OHS laws and paints a woefully inadequate picture of how the law in NSW measures the impact of a workplace fatality. In Victoria, there have been two large fines following fatalities, $2m in the Esso Longford double fatality, and this week, $1.1m in the Foster’s case. However, many fines have been much lower than this as can be seen on the WorkSafe page on prosecutions outcomes for fatalities. 
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald 
See also: ‘Fosters receives record fines for brewery death’ under prosecutions in this edition of SafetyNet

Farmer crushed to death by bale of hay
Police are investigating the accidental death of a man after he was crushed by a bale of hay on a farm at West Portland, in south-west Victoria.
Police were called to the property in on Sunday 3 August when a neighbour found the man who’d been using a front-end loader to move the bale, which weighs several hundred kilograms. The man died when the hay bale fell back onto the cabin of the vehicle, crushing him.
ABC news 

MUA has safety fears for foreign crew on ships in Geraldton and Wyalla

According to the International Transport Workers' Federation, a foreign ship chartered by the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) is suspected to be abusing labour standards in Geraldton. The Greek Captain on the Cypriot flagged Pontoklydon has refused to sign an international minimum standards agreement and allow ITF Inspectors to speak to the 16 Filipino crew.
"We fear for the safety and welfare of the crew who are obviously too intimidated to speak to our inspector" said Dean Summers, National Coordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation.
The ITF has attempted to board the vessel but were refused entry. Similarly a ship docked in Wyalla in South Australia has refused to let  four Turkish crew members to leave the ship following allegations of mental and physical abuse by officers on board.
MUA news releases: Geraldton  & Wyalla 

Mt Isa pollution monitoring plan not enough
The lawyer representing several families in Mount Isa in north-west Queensland says a new emissions monitoring system does not go far enough. The families are suing Swiss mining giant Xstrata, the Queensland Government and the Mt Isa City Council over elevated lead levels found in the city's children. Recent tests by the Queensland Health Department found 11 per cent of children tested had dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.
A machine designed to monitor emissions from the mine is on order from the US but lawyers argue this will do little to stop the ongoing contamination and significant cleanup requirements in the town and surrounding areas.
ABC news

Britain admits servicemen exposed to nukes radiation in Australia
British defence chiefs have admitted that servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The admission, in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers, came after years of denials.
British newspapers said the court papers show that the Ministry of Defence believes that nuclear tests were responsible for the deaths of some British servicemen. The ministry insists that only 159 men were affected out of the 20,000 who were present.
About 800 former servicemen from Britain, New Zealand and Fiji earlier this year launched a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the ministry, claiming they had been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during tests at sites including Maralinga in South Australia and Christmas Island.
The Age 

International Union news

Play Fair 2008: IOC Inaction on Labour Rights Shameful
On the eve of the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony Play Fair 2008 campaigners in Hong Kong have confronted the IOC over its failure to act on the widespread exploitation of workers in the manufacture of Olympics-branded products. Play Fair 2008 supporters include the Australian union the TCFUA and hundreds of other union and solidarity groups internationally. Campaign activists say the IOC has refused to commit staff or resources to constructively follow up on the many outstanding issues shown to exist in Olympic supply chains. These include poverty wages, child labour and excessive overtime and low safety standards.
The IOC is clearly lagging in adopting the aims of the campaign, in contrast to the efforts of a number of sporting goods manufacturers who last month committed to working with unions to help promote trade unionism and collective bargaining as well as improving wages across the sector.

FoE calls for EU action on bisphenol-A
A Friends of the Earth Europe has accused European regulators of shirking their responsibility to recognise the risks of bisphenol-A (BPA) even after Canadian legislators have proposed bans of the substances in certain applications that would expose infants.
A new report - ‘ Blissfully unaware of BPA' [pdf]  - accuses the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Commission and EU Member States of overlooking what it describes as the now 'overwhelming evidence' on the possible endocrine disrupting effects of BPA at low doses.
FoE Europe site 

Research

Australian workers overloaded and work too long

A new survey that reveals workers' continuing struggle to meet commitments outside of work underlines the need for a meaningful formal right for all employees to be able to request changes in working hours and to contest requests that are denied, according to University of South Australia researchers Natalie Skinner and Barbara Pocock. The study, from the University of SA’s Centre for Work + Life, found that more than one-half (54.5%) of all those included in the national survey of 2831 workers felt overloaded at work. The researchers place the blame on poor work/life interaction and unsupportive workplace cultures.
Australian workers also believe they work too long and would like to reduce their hours. According to the study most people want to work 34.6 hours per week as opposed to the average working week of 38.2 hours. Over half of the respondents felt they often had too much work for one person to manage.
Work, Life and Workplace Culture: Australian Work and Life Index 2008, N Skinner and B Pocock, Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies
University of South Australia [ pdf ]
The Age     Workplace OHS

Sedentary work leads to weight gain says study
Another study has confirmed sedentary occupations carry a significant risk of workers gaining weight than other occupations. The study from the University of North Carolina focused on 393 volunteers working at a call centre. The mean age of participants was 34 years and 71% were female. The study found sixty-eight per cent of participants gained weight averaging 0.9 kg/month for 8 months. Significantly, in contrast to walking and moderate exercise, only vigorous exercise was significantly associated with non-weight gain. The study comes after recent Australian research added to the growing evidence that shift work negatively impacts on health, revealing shift workers are more likely to smoke and to become overweight.
Physical activity, weight gain and occupational health among call centre employees; Robert W. Boyce, Edward L. Boone, Brian W. Cioci and Albert H. Lee; Occupational Medicine 2008 58(4):238-244; Abstract  

ABS survey shows older workers have more chronic health problems

The ABS analysis of the national health survey reports that more than three-quarters of mature-age Australian workers have chronic health problems. The report shows work-related conditions include a high proportion of disc disorders, (42%), back problems (41%) and hearing loss (32%). It also reveals that mature-age tradespeople were more likely to have a chronic health condition than professionals. Similarly, people living in regional areas were more likely to have a chronic condition than those in capital cities.
ABS website   

Burnt out workers don’t seek help
New research suggests workers with symptoms of burnout are less likely to
participate in work-based interventions such as stress reduction or occupational training than other workers. Researchers at the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health analysed data from 3276 Finnish employees and found that burnt out workers are more likely to receive individual interventions including antidepressants and other medications. In the study burnout was defined as exhaustion accompanied by feelings of incompetence or that one's work wasn't valuable. Its presence and impact was assessed via questionnaire.
Interventions in Relation to Occupational Burnout: The Population-Based Health 2000 Study ; Ahola, Kirsi MA; Honkonen, Teija PhD, MD; Virtanen, Marianna PhD; Kivimaki, Mika PhD; Isometsa, Erkki PhD, MD; Aromaa, Arpo PhD, MD; Lonnqvist, Jouko PhD, MD; Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 49(9):943-952, September 2007.

Study proves diacetyl harms workers' lungs
Another study has exposed the dangers of diacetyl, used in artificial butter flavouring. The new study shows that exposure to diacetyl can be harmful to the nose and airways. Scientists at the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducted the study because diacetyl has been implicated in causing obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) in humans. OB is a debilitating but rare lung disease, which has been detected recently in workers who inhale significant concentrations of the flavouring in microwave popcorn packaging plants.
When laboratory mice inhaled diacetyl vapors for three months, they developed lymphocytic bronchiolitis - a potential precursor of OB. None of the mice, however, were diagnosed with OB.
Respiratory Toxicity of Diacetyl in C57Bl/6 Mice ; Daniel L. Morgan, Gordon P. Flake, Patrick J. Kirby and Scott M. Palmer; Toxicological Sciences Journal. 
Source: Workplace OHS

WorkSafe News

WorkSafe announces increase in penalty points

The monetary value of a penalty point (for penalties under OHS Law) has increased to $113.42 as of July 1. 

ASCC meets in Melbourne
Apart from asbestos-related matters, reported above, the ASCC also considered a benchmark survey on the nature and extent of exposures to a range of disease causing hazards, and workplace controls to reduce these exposures; and noted the outcomes from the first Stevedoring Technical Group meeting and work being undertaken by the Maritime Union of Australia.
ASCC Communiqué  

Comcare latest news:
The bulletin includes a reminder that under the Comcare OHS Act, Health and Safety Management Arrangements (HSMAs) need to be completed by 15 September 2008.  Comcare has published information on HSMAs  and FAQs on The OHS Code of Practice 2008.  
Comcare 

Resources and materials

Safety Alert - Using workboxes to lift personnel - Braking and operational requirements for cranes [pdf]
This Alert informs owners, operators, manufacturers, and hirers of the requirements for a dual braking system where the crane is required to suspend a workbox for the purposes of hoisting personnel.

Fatigue prevention in the workplace
This guidance provides information on how to identify potential work-related fatigue hazards, determine work-related fatigue risks and how to control work-related fatigue hazards and risks.

Qld Safety Alert – Safe operation of concrete pumping equipment around overhead powerlines

NSW Safety Alert - High-pressure water jetting
WorkCover NSW has release a safety alert [pdf] following a fatal incident to an operator while he was using a high-pressure water jetting lance to clean the settlement tank of a truck wash bay. 

OFSC launches safe design presentations
The Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (OFSC) is promoting the concept and process of safe design to the building and construction industry and has produced an audiovisual presentation promoting awareness of safe design. View the media release and presentations .   View the safe design website .  

Chemical Regulator Proposes Restrictions on Dichlorvos to Protect Human Health
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has released its preliminary review findings of dichlorvos, an organophosphorus insecticide commonly used for the control of a large variety of insects in storage areas in domestic, commercial and industrial premises. The review found there was insufficient data for the APVMA to be satisfied there was
adequate protection for people in relation to worker exposure, exposure arising from some domestic uses, and residues in some food commodities. The APVMA proposes that several uses including, but not limited to post-harvest uses on pulses, broadacre application to avocados, mechanical application to grains, and uses in enclosed spaces, be cancelled.
APVMA website     Dichlorvos review media release 

Worksafe Prosecutions

Fosters receives record fines for brewery death

Brewing giant Fosters has been fined a record $1.125 million over serious safety failings which led to the death of a worker at the company’s Abbotsford Brewery in 2006. The fines are the largest imposed under the 2004 OHS Act.
The LHMU has called for improved safety standards in the wake of the fines.
Mr Cuu Huynh, a 52 year-old Wantirna father and LHMU member, died after being crushed between a handrail and the pneumatically operated door of a depalletiser machine.
The County Court found the company’s actions were a serious safety failure and that a reasonable employer would have foreseen the danger posed by the unguarded machine and taken steps to make it safer. Another worker had been injured in a similar incident on a different machine four years earlier.
LHMU State Secretary Jess Walsh said staff remain deeply traumatised by the loss of their workmate and are determined to ensure Fosters improves safety standards and procedures at the Abbotsford plant.
“We are calling on Fosters to work with us and WorkSafe to make real and meaningful improvements to its safety standards and procedures. Union delegates tell us the OHS committee is dominated by management and they are unable to have their safety concerns properly addressed.
We want to see shopfloor OHS representatives given a real say about safety matters at the brewery.”
Fosters pleaded guilty and was sentenced on two charges, each with a fine of $562,500. Victoria’s highest ever fine was $2-million imposed on Esso after the 1998 Longford Gas Plant explosion. Esso was prosecuted on 11 counts under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985, which had a maximum penalty of $250,000 per charge.
LHMU media release    VWA media release    ABC news report    The Age  
OHS Reps – Hazards: Plant 

Albury boss fined $120k for bullying vulnerable workers
An Albury boss who bullied and underpaid vulnerable workers has been fined $120,000 by a federal magistrate. Nick Iksidis, who runs a business collecting supermarket trolleys - Xidis Pty Ltd - trading as Effective Supermarket Services, faced charges brought by the Federal Workplace Ombudsman. He was charged with underpaying 42 employees more than $100,000. Staff members who were ripped off included mentally disabled people, young workers and people who spoke little English. Federal industrial magistrate Philip Burchardt said: "Mr Iksidis chose a workforce that he knew or suspected would be pliable and bullied them if they complained."
News.com report

WA: Eight companies face charges over Cyclone George
WorkSafe WA will prosecute eight companies in connection with two deaths and serious harm caused to seven persons during Cyclone George in March 2007. These companies are: Spotless P & F Pty Ltd; The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty Ltd; BGC Contracting Pty Ltd; Laing O’Rourke (BMC) Pty Ltd; Spunbrood Pty Ltd trading as NT Link; WorleyParsons Services Pty Ltd; Spotless Services Australia Limited; and Fortescue Metals Group Limited.
WA Govt media release 

International News

Europe: EU consults on risks and benefits of creosote as preservative

The European Union is consulting on the risks and benefits of using creosote as a preservative and the availability of alternatives. The outcome will be reflected in the inclusion or exclusion of creosotes from the list of authorised active ingredients under the EU biocidal products Directive.

Nigeria: Two million at risk of radiation cancer, say UN
Nigerian environmental and health officials warn that slightly radioactive tailings found in abandoned mines in central Nigeria’s Plateau state pose a health risk to around two million inhabitants. During studies conducted earlier this year by officials from Nigeria’s nuclear research agency, 1,100 abandoned mines where tin and a mineral called columbite had been mined, showed levels of radiation that could be harmful to human health. The levels of radiation place people living in the areas at risk of risk of cancers of the skin, lungs and liver as well as sight impairments.
Environmental Expert 

South Africa: BHP suspends operations at coal mine after death
Mining giant BHP Billiton said it had suspended operations at its South African Klipspruit coal mine after a worker was killed in an incident on 29 July. The company and local authorities are investigating the incident.

USA: OSHA Seeks $8.7 million fine over sugar dust explosion
The US Occupational Health and Safety Administration is seeking $8.7 million in fines over the deaths of 13 workers in a sugar dust explosion in February this year. OSHA found numerous safety breaches lead to the catastrophic event. Health and safety advocates say the fines are a start but that criminal indictments would be more appropriate.
NY Times report   The Pump Handle  

USA: Secret Bush rule to lower protections from toxins
The Bush administration has been caught trying to introduce secret plans to lower health and safety standards on exposures to toxins. The Pump Handle has reports on the secret process of political appointees and hidden regulation designed to weaken OSHA and lower exposure standards, particular in the mining industry.
However US Congressional leaders have pledged to introduce legislation that would block the efforts by the Labor Department to make it more difficult to limit workers' exposure to chemicals on the job.
The Pump Handle 1   , 2   , 3    Washington Post

 

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