Issue 152 - SafetyNet Journal 152
Welcome to SafetyNet Journal, your source for the latest in local and international OHS news and campaigns. In this edition: First Report from harmonisation panel; SafeWork Australia Bill back to the Senate, again; Interview with one of the OHS Reps of the Year; Asbestos Awareness Week events; and company fined $360k for safety breaches won’t have to pay a cent.Union News
Research
WorkSafe News
Worksafe Prosecutions
International News
Events
Union News
Activities and news for reps
First report from National Review of OHS laws released
The first report into the harmonisation of Australia OHS laws has been released. Unions have a number of concerns with the recommendations, including the recommendation that an employer’s duty of care should be qualified by “reasonably practicable”, as is currently the case in Victoria.
The ACTU has said it backs new proposals to increase the maximum fines for companies and directors who cause death or injury to workers, but believe the fines need to be even higher if they are to act as an effective deterrent. The ACTU is also concerned that bad employers will still find it easy to escape prosecution. The report makes 75 recommendations on the priority areas of duties of care and the nature and structure of offences, including defences to the Federal and State Governments on harmonising OHS laws.
The second and final report, covering other matters relevant to a model OHS Act, will be completed by 30 January 2009.
The National Review Panel – First Report [pdf] & Media Release
ACTU media release OHS Reps – Time to Deliver
SafeWork Australia Bill back to Senate as Government remains defiant
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is sending the SafeWork Australia Bill back to the Senate, despite its voting that it would insist on the controversial union-backed amendments remaining in the proposed legislation. In a speech this week, Gillard criticised the Senate’s motion, labelling it a ‘continuation of the OHS arrangements that plagued businesses during the 11 years of the Howard Government’.
The Senate passed changes to the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 last month, providing employers and workers with three members each on the new body, up from two. The Bill had come under fire by unions and employers for having too little representation on the 15-member, tripartite body. An unlikely alliance of the Greens, the Independents and the Coalition has slammed the Federal Government’s decision to vote down the amendments in the House of Representatives, saying that Gillard is ‘turning her back’ on workers and industry as well as risking safety outcomes by refusing to accept the Senate amendments. The ACTU says it will continue to urge the Rudd Government to meet with the social partners in an endeavour to discuss an acceptable legislative package.
Source: Workplace OHS ABC news
Reps conference materials now online
A range of materials and presentations from this years’ OHS Reps Conference are now on the site. Included on the site are presentations from WorkSafe Executive Director, John Merritt, noted OHS Consultant, Andrea Shaw and AMWU OHS Organiser, Phillip Hazelton.
VTHC OHS Reps Conference 2008
Interview with OHS Rep of the Year, Derek Jones
SafetyNet spoke with one of the joint winners of this year’s OHS Rep of the year, Derek Jones, about winning the award and some of the important lessons he has learned over his six years as an occupational health and safety rep. Derek works at the OTIS Elevator Company in South Melbourne and is a roving rep and works closely with his colleagues and management to advocate for improved standards in his own workplace and across his industry.
He has worked hard as a rep to establish relationships that allow for the open discussion of OHS issues and has had great success in working cooperatively to deliver safer standards. You can read our full interview with him online.
We hope to bring you an interview with Derek’s co-winner, Bill Thomson, in the next edition of SafetyNet.
WorkSafe Media Release on all the Award winners
Ask Renata –
I predominately work with computers all day and I've never needed glasses before, however after three years I think my eyes have deteriorated. I also get headaches. Does my employer have to pay for my glasses?
There is nothing in the OHS legislation that puts any duty on employers to pay for glasses or even eye tests. However, there's nothing to prevent this being part of an agreement - which may be the situation where you work. There's advice around about what employers might consider and may provide. The Comcare publication Eye Health in the Workplace [pdf] has advice and also specifies that while there is no requirement on employers, this is a legitimate thing to include in EBAs (p7). The ACTU has a policy for Screen Based Work - it's very broad, but has a section on Eye tests (p17). It’s an attachment at the bottom of this page on the website.
Do you have an OHS-related query? If so, Ask Renata
Man crushed to death at Melbourne storage yard
A man in his 50s died after being crushed at a vehicle storage yard at Ringwood on the night of Friday November 7. The man was reportedly working alone under the tray of a tip truck when the accident occurred and he died at the scene. It is the third fatality in recent times where a worker has been crushed by a vehicle. WorkSafe is investigating.
ABC online
Human Rights Commission calls for harassment protections
The Australian Human Rights Commission has recommended extending employers' obligations to prevent s*xual harassment in the workplace to protect workers from customers and clients, after its latest five-year survey indicated a significant reduction in s*xual harassment on the job. The survey found 22 per cent of female employees and five per cent of male employees had been sexually harassed at work during their lifetime, down from 28 per cent and seven per cent in 2003.
Whilst this reduction might be explained by the rise in employers using effective s*xual harassment policies and prevention strategies, it may also be that employees have a lesser awareness of s*xual harassment. The report recommends that the federal government extend the coverage of s*xual harassment to encompass behaviour by customers, clients and other people with whom they have contact at work. It also recommends that employers comply with the AHRC's Code of Practice for Employers by developing and implementing a formal s*xual harassment policy, providing regular training, monitoring the incidence of s*xual harassment and conducting regular audits.
S*xual harassment: Serious business, Results of the 2008 S*xual Harassment National Telephone Survey, Australian Human Rights Commission, October 2008 [pdf]
Source: Workplace Express
Asbestos News
Asbestos Awareness Week: Monday 24 November – Friday 28 November
The last week of November each year is Asbestos Awareness Week. The week serves as a potent reminder of the effects of asbestos and provides an opportunity to remember and support the families affected by asbestos-related diseases. This year there are a number of activities and commemorative services taking place in Melbourne, Geelong and Gippsland.
ADSVIC will be holding a national conference on 29 and 30 November. The conference brings together the latest information about asbestos-related medical research and treatment, nutrition and complementary health options, advances in palliative care and other support services. Check the website for details on what’s happening in your area. OHS Reps may also want to use the opportunity to check with their employer that there is an up-to-date asbestos audit of their workplace.
Asbestos Awareness Week 2008
La Trobe uni sues over asbestos
La Trobe University is suing a property development company and one of its directors over a $16 million bill for the removal of asbestos and lead paint from the Argus building. The Age reports that the developer claimed the building had gone through “extensive cleaning and all hazardous materials were removed”. However during redevelopment hazardous materials were found and had to be removed at significant cost. The asbestos regulations specify that building owners must have an up-to-date asbestos audit. It has been reported to the VTHC that while an audit existed, there are questions about its adequacy. Had a satisfactory audit been available, then the University, as purchaser, would have been aware of the full extent of asbestos and lead contamination prior to finalising the purchase.
Rotterdam asbestos failure ‘disgraceful’
Asbestos exporters and vested interests have succeeded in blocking listing of chrysotile asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention Prior Informed Consent listing. The Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) has called the outcome disgraceful and a blow to workers in developing countries, who are exposed to the deadly substance on a daily basis. The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat has raised the possibility that some asbestos importing countries may have been paid off to actively stymie efforts to add chrysotile asbestos to the convention. The IBAS called events at the meeting in Rome a “disgraceful display of anarchy” and an example of toxic corporate crime prevailing over international public heath.
Sources: International Ban Asbestos Secretariat media release Ban Asbestos Network of India media release Asbestos Awareness Week 2008
New Publication: Asbestos in India
This publication examines the public health impacts posed by India’s poorly regulated asbestos related industries. Produced by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, it seeks to highlight the long term problems the Indian community is going to face due to the rampant use of the toxic material.
India's Asbestos Time Bomb [pdf]
Nanotechnology News
NSW Inquiry rejects moratorium, supports safety ‘advice’ & reporting
A NSW Parliamentary Inquiry called for nano safety advice, but no moratorium, saying it would be impractical, as both ‘nanotechnology’ and ‘nanomaterials’ are ‘broad descriptive terms rather than specific entities’. However, the report supports a mandatory reporting scheme to assist in the identification of where nanomaterials are being used and to identify further areas for research, etc. It also believed that workers should be advised of the fact that they are being exposed to engineered nanomaterials through labelling. Legislative changes are necessary for these changes to occur.
Even though this was a NSW Inquiry, the VTHC put in a submission and welcomes the proposals for a mandatory reporting scheme and labelling requirements.
Final Report [pdf]
UK Royal Commission warns nanomaterials likely to be deadly as asbestos
Nanomaterials are likely to kill people in the future, just as asbestos did, unless extensive safety checks are put in place, a UK Royal Commission report has said. The team of experts assessing the likely impacts of the emerging technology are worried that when nanomaterials escape into the environment they will damage people and wildlife but that it will be years before the effects are seen. In the past materials such as asbestos, leaded petrol, CFCs and cigarettes were brought into use without adequately considering the potential damage and the commission fears nanomaterials will prove similarly dangerous. The report calls for rigorous safety systems and intensive research to counter the threats posed by nanomaterials.
The Times Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (both the full report and a summary can be downloaded from here)
Dutch central labour body calls for preventative measures on nanomaterials
Holland’s main central union body, the FNV, has called on the Dutch Labour Minister to introduce specific preventive measures for workers exposed to nanomaterials. The FNV says it “cannot accept the existing indistinctness on the protective measures that should be taken by companies to assure sufficient protection when working with nanoparticles.” The Labour Inspectorate says it does not have the tools needed to provide employers with corrective advices in protecting workers. This situation is “unacceptable and needs to be solved immediately”, argues the trade union in its letter to the Minister.
The FNV believes that all the steps taken to encourage producers and employers to voluntarily publicise the presence of nanoparticles in products have failed. It is therefore calling on the Dutch government to follow the French government’s lead, which it says is poised to introduce a compulsory requirement to supply the authorities with details of nanomaterials present in products placed on the market or imported into France.
ETUI media release
Other Union News
Transport workers call for action on national safe rates system
A landmark joint Commonwealth/State Government report released last week has recommended the establishment of a national scheme for setting mandatory safe rates for employees and owner-drivers in the heavy vehicle industry. The Transport Workers Union (TWU) is calling on the Federal Government to act on the recommendations to reduce the number of fatalities and accidents in the transport industry. The new system would be a response to the chronic safety crisis that saw 275 people needlessly die in heavy vehicle accidents in the 12 months leading to March 2008.
TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon has praised the report and urged it to be implemented in full. “Today is a giant step forward for the transport industry in ending the shocking amount of fatalities on our roads each year. All transport workers would benefit from the implementation of the system outlined. It has the support of drivers, academic leaders and community organisation, who all lent their voice for change in the review process.”
TWU Media Release
Rudd opens Beaconsfield mine disaster museum as inquest ends
Kevin Rudd joined Beaconsfield mine collapse survivors Todd Russell and Brant Webb in opening a museum to commemorate the 2006 disaster which killed Larry Knight. The opening was in the same week as an inquest into the disaster wrapped up. As final submissions were delivered on 10 November, Counsel Assisting the Coroner, Michael O'Farrell, said the mining company may have failed to properly analyse and consider the risks. He told the inquest it could be found there was an institutional failure or a corporate failure and said the employer might possibly have fallen short of its recognised duty. He also suggested there may be been a failure of the corporation to properly analyse and consider the risks. The coroner said he would deliver his findings as soon as possible.
Source: The Age ABC online
457-visa workers meet with Fed Govt over exploitation
Unions have stepped up their campaign to overhaul the 457-visa system as another temporary visa holder died from injuries received at work. The man was the ninth person holding a temporary visa to die in the past two years. Major unions are meeting with the Federal Government with five 457-visa workers who claim they have been exploited, in a bid to have the current system overhauled. The delegation of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF), the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) met with the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, and other politicians.
They urged a range of changes as part of the Federal Government’s review of the 457 guest-worker scheme. The changes include the reintroduction of labour market testing, payment of real market rates and measures to ensure 457-workers are not exploited, such as increased safety protections and medical insurance. The meeting came as the Standing Committee looking into the Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Bill 2008 has thrown its support behind the proposed changes, recommending the Senate pass the Bill.
SMH – 457-visa worker death ABC online
International Union News
Economic Crisis: World’s Trade Unions Put Recovery and Reform Plan to G20
Trade union leaders from the G20 countries will put forward a comprehensive plan to turn around the global economy, in meetings with world leaders in Washington DC on the eve of the financial crisis summit hosted by the US government on 15 November. The top level union delegation will discuss the plan with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and heads of government from the G20 countries.
The world’s unions are calling for a series of urgent actions to stave off the prospect of deep and long-lasting global recession, coupled with major changes in the running of the global economy to turn back decades of deregulation policies that have caused the current crisis
ITUC news release
Nestlé Workers Worldwide Demand Decent Work, Respect for Union Rights
Union action is growing at Nestlé operations around the world as workers seek compensation for eroded purchasing power, a halt to growing casualisation and respect for trade union rights, including the basic union right to collective bargaining, with the world's largest food company. Workers are also seeking adherence to the basic OHS rights that workers in developed countries are afforded. On November 8, the IUF-affiliated Nestle Indonesia Workers Union - Panjang held a mass demonstration to raise public awareness of their struggle in Lampung, Sumatra.
The union has been struggling to negotiate a new collective agreement since late 2007. Management's response has been harassment, intimidation, forced transfers and threats against union officers. As they attempted in Perm, Russia, where international union pressure eventually forced management to back down, Nestlé is insisting that it cannot disclose (let alone negotiate!) the wage scale with the union for reasons of "commercial secrecy."
IUF news release
Research
Nanosilver toxicity enigma
A new study by researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) has found a way to look at nanosilver’s mechanisms in live algae, which can be a stand-in for many plants. In the process they have discovered an enigma about the way silver nanoparticles behave which could have profound public health impacts.
Silver nanoparticles themselves, because of their size and shape, could be toxic; on the other hand, silver nanoparticles could be toxic because they release silver ions, which are well known for their antibacterial and other destructive behaviours. The study has provided evidence that points to both ions and nanoparticles as the source of nanosilver’s toxicity, with nanoparticles furthering the ions’ impacts. This could point to changes in the way such impacts are measured.
Chemwatch Bulletin
WorkSafe News
WorkSafe inspectors to target Geelong in November
The Westfield and Market Square shopping centres and businesses in neighbouring areas will be inspected to check that health and safety hazards are being controlled and return-to-work obligations for injured workers are being met. Media Release
Useful materials:
- A handbook for workplaces - Safe collection of hard waste - This handbook provides employers, contractors and councils working in the waste collection industry with information on how to safely collect domestic hard waste and bundled green waste.
- For volunteer organisations:
What you need to know about health and safety - Volunteers in community services - More information about - Community service volunteer boards and committees
- A handbook for community service organisations - volunteer health and safety
- New NICNAS information sheet on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity [pdf]
Worksafe Prosecutions
Company fined over scalping won’t pay a cent
A company fined $360,000 after a worker had part of her scalp removed is unlikely to pay a cent as the director wound up the company in order to avoid having to pay any fine. BAZMAC, a Braybrook bedding company, was placed in liquidation in October as the case moved to court. The incident occurred in 2007 when the woman was working on a carding machine, used to untangle and comb fibres from cotton bales. The machine was improperly guarded and her hair became caught in a rotating spindle when she bent to investigate a squeaking noise. She lost part of her scalp and 40 per cent of her hair and feared that the machine would actually tear her face off.
Outrageously, the director of the company, Barry McGuninnes, has admitted that he had set up another business at the same address on the day that the creditor’s application to wind up the company was made to the Supreme Court. The ability of company directors to avoid responsibility in this way is of great concern to unions, as is the sad irony that this happened in the same week as WorkSafe prosecuted two individuals for relatively minor worker compensation fraud matters.
Sources: WorkSafe media release Herald Sun
$50,000 fines for forklift breaches
A company has been fined $50,000 plus costs over its poorly repaired forklifts and poor maintenance systems which posed potential safety hazards. WorkSafe was investigating repeated allegations of unsafe work when an inspector attended Apollo General Engineering (Aust) and discovered the breaches. A number of forklifts were observed requiring maintenance, one being described as being in a state of disrepair. The company’s lack of a system for maintenance, such as pre-operational checklists, was seen to have contributed to the employer’s breaches. The judge presiding commended WorkSafe saying, ‘…if it wasn’t for WorkSafe going around and picking up these breaches, we could be here for a fatality with a much bigger fine outcome than today.’
Source: VWA media release
Body Corporate committed to stand trial over fall
A body corporate will face trial over the fall from height of an electrical contractor at an East Melbourne construction site. Probuild Constructions (NSW) Pty Ltd (Probuild NSW) is a body corporate which has as its undertaking a construction business. It is not an employer. It has been committed to stand trial over the incident in which the man fell 2.8m and fractured both kneecaps. The worker, employed at the time by Prolec Electrical Pty. Ltd. (Prolec) in the construction of units in Wellington Pde, has been unable to work as an electrician following the incident. The body corporate is being prosecuted under Section 26 of the OHS Act 2004.
Source VWA media release
International News
Obama’s election good news for US workers
US unions and OHS campaigners have welcomed the election of Democratic Senator Barack Obama as US President. As a US Senator, Obama was a co-sponsor of a bill, the Protecting America's Workers Act, which seeks to increase fines and penalties for wilful safety violations and expand the law - the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 - to cover millions of workers, such as government employees, who are currently exempted. Certain key parts of the bill were opposed by his opponent, John McCain. Republicans decry what they say is the high cost of regulation to business, but unions say they fail to acknowledge or care that injuries and illnesses cost the American economy greatly. Labour activists have called on Obama to allow examination of decisions made by the Department of Labor, which has been highly partisan and unaccountable under George Bush.
Sources: The Las Vegas Sun The Pump Handle
US legislation will stop exports of elemental mercury in 2013
Legislation introduced in the US will prohibit the export of elemental mercury from 2013. The aim of the new legislation is to prevent environmental release of the neurotoxic element and ensuring it is safely stored. Passage of the legislation came just days after the European Union adopted a similar export ban that takes effect in 2011. Currently in the US, commodity brokers purchase mercury collected from recycled equipment, fluorescent light bulbs, and other sources. The brokers then sell it on the world market. Tons of this quicksilver ends up at small-scale gold mining operations in the developing world, where workers, including children, use it to separate the precious metal from bits of rock and sand. Air and water around these mining sites are contaminated with the metal, and airborne mercury can travel long distances. Mercury works its way into the food chain where it can have devastating impacts to human health over time.
Chemical & Engineering News, 29 September 2008
Consumer guide to Bisphenol A published
The Health and Environmental Alliance (HEAL) and Friends of the Earth have jointly published a guide for consumers entitled Bisphenol A In Plastics: Is It Making Us Sick? A Hazard of Modern Living [pdf]. The guide offers information on the effects of the toxin and where it can be found around the home and elsewhere.
Online Corporate Accountability Portal tracks human rights
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has launched a free online portal, pulling together information on lawsuits across the world alleging human rights abuses by companies. The portal summarises in non-legal language over 35 cases and the positions taken by each side, with more cases to be added soon. There are also commentaries by experts.
Occupational and environmental health abuses feature prominently among the initial collection of cases. There are details of the case against AngloGold Ashanti, the mining firm sued in South Africa over miners suffering from the dust disease silicosis. The legal action in India and the US against Dow/Union Carbide following the industrial disaster in Bhopal is also featured. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is an independent organisation working with Amnesty International, the ILO and UN to track the impact of business on human rights around the world.
Corporate legal accountability portal
UK: Company pays out for massive explosion
Victims of the massive explosion at Buncfield north of London are in line for compensation of £700 million (almost A$1600 million) after French oil company, Total, dropped a key part of its legal defence in the High Court. The 2005 explosion was the largest in peacetime in the UK. Forty-three people were injured in the explosion which could be heard over 100km away. The company had attempted to argue that only damage which occurred within 451 metres of the site was “foreseeable”, a legal manoeuvre designed to severely limit the company’s liability.
The Times, A story of one ofthe victims - Josh Spear
Events
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)
December 1 – 5 Initial Ringwood
December 8 – 12 DEECD (Education) Carlton
December 15 – 19 Initial Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $670.00
Initial 5-Day Country
December 8 – 12 Initial Geelong
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $690.00
Comcare 5-Day OHS Reps Course (for Elected OHS Reps under the Comcare Act)
December 8 - 12 Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $650.00
2-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.
December 17 - 18 Carlton
Course hours: 9.30am - 4.30pm. Course fee $350.00
1-Day Refresher
The Refresher course is approved by the VWA under Section 67 of the Victorian OHS Act 2004 for elected reps and deputies.
December 2 Legislative Update Frankston
December 3 Legislative Update Geelong
December 4 Legislative Update Shepparton
December 5 Legislative Update Bendigo
December 15 Legislative Update Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 4.30pm. Course fee $180.00
Go to the 2008 Training program page to download an application form.
Return to Work Training
For RTW training go to the training page.
Victorian Trade Unions Family Race Day and Christmas Party
Bring your family along to our annual Race Day which is being held on Sunday 23 November 2008 (11 am to 6 pm) at Cranbourne Turf Club, Grant Street, Cranbourne. There will be a free BBQ lunch and this year the entertainment will have a Christmas Carnival theme.
Tickets are available at the gate. Cost of tickets for union members (who show their union card) are: $15 family $7.50 single
Read more
LASNet Solidarity Dinner-Dance
Saturday December 13, from 7pm; Maritime Union Hall; 54 Ireland St. West Melbourne. All proceeds in support Indigenous & workers projects in Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia and Australia. Cultural Andean music presentation of Marcelo Chimbolema, international indigenous guest from Ecuador $20conc. - $25 Full lasnet@latinlasnet.org
PHD completion seminar: Are workers who are precariously employed less likely to participate in Occupational Health and Safety?
This seminar will consider associations between precarious employment and worker participation in occupational health and safety (oHs) within a workforce which is shifting from permanent full time work to other more insecure forms of employment.
Presented by Tessa Keegel
When: 12pm - 1pm
Wednesday 19 November
Where: Room 515, level 5
207-221 Bouverie Street
Carlton
Loss is Unavoidable: Developing support strategies for the workplace
Wednesday 3rd December 2008 10.00am – 4.00pm (registration 9.30am)
La Trobe University, 215 Franklin St Melbourne.
For more information contact :
National Association for Loss & Grief (Vic) Inc
Suite 4, Level 1 182 Victoria Parade East Melbourne Vic 3002
Tel: 03 9650 3000 Freecall (Country Vic 1800 100 023)
Fax: 03 9650 5777