Issue 166 - SafetyNet Journal 166
Welcome to SafetyNet Journal 166 - find out the latest in what's going on in Australia and elsewhere.Union News
Research
WorkSafe News
Worksafe Prosecutions
International News
Events
Union News
Activities for reps
Victoria moves to next stage of swine flu preparednessAustralia now has almost 900 cases of swine flu (officially Influenza A - H1N1) and Victoria, with over 750 cases, has now moved to a modified Sustain Phase of its influenza plan. Health authorities are now focusing treatment on members of the community most vulnerable to influenza, such as the elderly, students at special development schools, hospital patients and people with a chronic illness. The decision to move Victoria to a modified Sustain Phase was made on advice from the Australian Health Protection Committee and the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer. Other states and territories will remain in the Contain Phase at this stage although currently New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania have instituted a range of quarantine measures for people who have visited Victoria.
Ask Renata
What does the flu pandemic mean for OHS Reps?
There are important steps that OHS reps can take to limit the impact of swine flu in their workplace. Employers must now examine and update their management plans and strategies to protect their workforce. Reps have a role to play in making sure employers meet their responsibilities under OHS law to maintain a safe and healthy work environment. The OHS Reps site swine flu page has up-to-date information, including what the modified Sustain Phase means, and advice on actions reps can take in their workplace.
Do you have an OHS-related query? If so, Ask Renata .
Unions vow active campaign on OHS harmonisation
Australian unions have vowed to step up the fight for the best possible national health and safety laws. The ACTU Congress, held in Brisbane this week, has passed an urgency motion supporting the campaign and calling on Federal, State and Territory Governments to engage in dialogue with unions on the matter. The ACTU Congress meets every three years to decide on policy and campaign objectives for the national union movement. The last Congress in 2006 saw the beginning of the ‘Your Rights At Work’ campaign, used so effectively by unions in the lead-up to the 2007 Federal Election.
The motion noted that the endorsement of model OHS laws by the Workplace Relations Ministers Council earlier this month would “fall well short of its own goal of ensuring that Australia has the world’s best standards in OHS”. It also says the decision effectively breaks the commitment made by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that in developing harmonised OHS legislation there would be “no reduction or compromise in standards for legitimate safety concerns”. Importantly for reps, the Congress rejected those “aspects of the framework endorsed by the WRMC that will diminish the rights of workers, HSRs and unions to protect the health and safety of workers when employers and regulators fail to do so”.
Unions are preparing for a thorough and sustained national campaign to inform Australian workers about the threats posed to their health and safety as a result of the approach taken by the WRMC to developing model OHS laws.
ACTU calls for abolition of ABCC
The ACTU Congress also heard impassioned pleas for the dismantling of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) which has targeted workers in the building industry with coercive and intrusive powers. In the past year 40 workers have died on construction sites around the country, a figure unions say is a national disgrace. Unions have consistently opposed the ABCC due to its extraordinary powers. In the four years since it was set up it has failed to adequately deal with employers who break the law or cut corners on safety but has consistently attacked ordinary workers. Unions have pledged to support South Australian construction worker, rigger Ark Tribe, who has been charged for refusing to attend an ABCC interview. Mr Tribe has refused to tell ABCC investigators about a union meeting held over persistent safety breaches at an Adelaide construction site.
ACTU media release
Green Light for 1st Ambo Strike in 36 Years
The Australian Electoral Commission has announced 94% support for strike action in a ballot of Victorian paramedics on protected industrial action. The historic vote, conducted over the past two weeks, clears the way for paramedics to dramatically ramp up their campaign against fatigue. Year-long pay talks with the Government are deadlocked and a major sticking point is its refusal to support minimum 10-hour rest breaks between shifts. Ambulance Employees Australia State Secretary Steve McGhie said he hoped last-ditch crisis talks currently underway in the IRC could still avert strike-action. He says paramedics don’t want to go on strike but that they have been left with few options and that the safety of the public will be a paramount concern.
Paramedics have voted to enforce 10-hour fatigue breaks between shifts, along with 17 other types of industrial action. This action is aimed at ensuring they are properly rested and that any risk to the Victorian community from fatigued paramedics is reduced. The action will force Ambulance Victoria to find other paramedics to cover the additional two hours of fatigue breaks that paramedics require to be properly rested for their next shift. There are also stop-work meetings and various other bans, such as refusing to collect patient billing data, which would make Victoria’s ambulance service free.
Response Time website
CFMEU wins at AIRC over random drug testing
The CFMEU has won a significant victory in protecting workers' privacy and improving drug and alcohol testing standards throughout the workforce, with the AIRC backing the union's position in a battle against Shell over random drug testing. CFMEU Mining and Energy Union National Legal Officer Judy Gray, who ran the case on behalf of CFMEU members employed at Shell’s Clyde Refinery and Gore Bay Terminal, said that the decision to introduce oral fluid testing rather than urine samples in random drug testing would end “a widespread practice that is not only a violation of privacy but also not as accurate in detecting possible employee impairment in the workplace”. The CFMEU’s proposal to use oral fluid samples in random tests rather than urine sampling was opposed by Shell and under an agreement between the Union and the company the dispute went to private arbitration, heard by a Senior Deputy President of the AIRC Jonathan Hamberger.
CFMEU media release
Transport Workers Union welcomes Gillard commitment to safe rates
An announcement by Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, that she will work to put in place a system of safe rates for our nations’ truck drivers, has been welcomed by the Transport Workers Union. TWU Federal Secretary, Tony Sheldon, said it was time to put an end to the carnage on Australia’s roads where 280 people die each year from heavy-vehicle-related incidents. “Trucks make up 2 per cent of registered vehicles on our roads but are involved in 22 per cent of fatalities,” Mr Sheldon said. “We need to make sure owner-drivers and employees are paid for their waiting time, for increases in fuel prices and for proper maintenance on their vehicles so they are not forced to do ‘one more load’ and push the boundaries to make ends meet.”
The Deputy Prime Minister announced that the Government will work with the TWU and responsible employers to “make sure that drivers are paid for all the work they do”. Speaking at ACTU congress, Minister Gillard said “Australia’s truck drivers work hard to make a living. But they shouldn’t have to die to make a living. And we will be working on safe rates to prevent them from having to take that risk. We will make sure that payment methods and rates do not require drivers to speed or work excessive hours just to make ends meet.”
TWU media release
Miners die in WA and Qld
Mine safety is in the spotlight yet again after two deaths in two weeks on opposite sides of the country. The death of a 34-year-old at the Sino Iron project in WA was the sixth in the Pilbara region in the past 11 months. The WA mines department is investigating the latest death, along with the shocking spate of fatalities in the region.
In Queensland a 50-year-old man was killed at Xstrata’s George Fisher mine near Mt Isa.
ABC news
Herald Sun report
Asbestos News
IMF conference told 13,000 Australians will die from asbestos diseaseThe International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) has endorsed the establishment of regional networks to achieve a global ban on asbestos — a motion moved by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union during an IMF conference in Sweden last week. AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver told the conference that despite the ban on asbestos in Australia, a further 40,000 Australians were expected to contract an asbestos-related disease, with 13,000 of those people expected to die of mesothelioma. During the conference, Oliver drew attention to Canada, which continues to mine and export asbestos. He said that if Canada successfully introduced an asbestos ban, that would be a ‘fatal blow to an industry that seeks profit regardless of the unnecessary death and devastation its products wreak on the global community'. Similarly, Oliver said that asbestos remained an issue in the Asia region, which accounted for 58% of total asbestos use in 2007 and 60% of people exposed to asbestos around the world.
AMWU news release
Students urge Canadian politicians to ban asbestos
Twenty of Canada's foremost health, environment and labour organizations are urging Canadian Parliamentarians to heed the call to ban Canadian asbestos being brought to Ottawa by three Grade 10 students from northern British Columbia. The students - Hayley McDermid, Claire Hinchliffe and Chloe Staiger, have written a bill to end Canada's mining and export of asbestos to developing countries. Their Member of Parliament, Nathan Cullen, presented their bill in the House of Commons on 1 June. Unions, health and environment groups and social justice organisations all supported the move, saying the teenagers were taking a more responsible approach to the deadly substance than Canadian political leaders.
CNW newswire
EPA provides $97,000 safe asbestos disposal on desert fringe
EPA Victoria has provided $97,000 towards safe asbestos disposal in the Hindmarsh and West Wimmera shire council areas. The funding was provided to the Desert Fringe Regional Waste Management Group for the installation of 13 asbestos collection sites. The $97,000 provided by EPA is part of a $1 million commitment by the Brumby Government to encourage safe handling and disposal of asbestos.
Using the funding, asbestos collection points will be provided at each waste transfer station in the region, using enclosed shipping containers and trailers.
EPA media release
Global: World Bank says avoid asbestos
The World Bank, which finances massive building projects across the globe, has said asbestos-containing materials (ACM) should be avoided in all its projects. The new World Bank document, 'Good practice note, Asbestos: occupational and community health issues' [pdf], says: 'Good practice is to minimise the health risks associated with ACM by avoiding their use in new construction and renovation, and, if installed asbestos-containing materials are encountered, by using internationally recognised standards and best practices to mitigate their impact.' The World Bank guide says asbestos 'should be avoided in new construction, including construction for disaster relief. In reconstruction, demolition, and removal of damaged infrastructure, asbestos hazards should be identified and a risk management plan adopted that includes disposal techniques and end-of-life sites.'
Risks 407
GARDS newsletter online
The latest GARDS newsletter is online now.
GARDS newsletter June 2009 [pdf]
AISS Journal online now
Latest Journal from Asbestos Information and Support Service (AISS)
AISS Journal May 2009 [pdf]
EPA warns companies and property owners on illegal dumping
EPA Victoria is advising companies and property owners to think twice before arranging for industrial waste to be dumped on private land. The warning comes following a recent run of penalties issued to companies for dumping on rural properties that do not have a licence or permit to receive waste. EPA Victoria advises that companies should check that a property is legally able to receive waste before depositing it on site. There have been a number of recent incidents where a company has deposited waste illegally at the request of a property owner, and both parties have been fined by EPA Victoria. Sometimes people ask for waste to be dumped at their property to raise the level of their land, but dumping waste in inappropriate locations can result in a variety of environmental impacts.EPA media release
International Union News
Europe: Special report on ‘Better Regulation’The Health and Safety Department of the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has produced a special report on “Better Regulation”. This is a useful resource for anyone interested in occupational health and safety.
Better Regulation, Hesa Newsletter 35, March 2009
Research
Research shows link between prenatal pesticide exposure and leukemia
Children whose mothers were exposed to pesticides during pregnancy are more at risk of getting leukemia. This is the main conclusion of a study recently published in the scientific magazine Environmental Health Perspectives. The study, headed 'A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Childhood Leukemia and Parental Occupational Pesticide Exposure', reviews 31 epidemiological studies carried out between 1950 and 2009 on the probability of leukemia cases in children whose parents were exposed to pesticides. Children whose mothers were exposed to pesticides at work during pregnancy were twice as much at risk of getting leukemia compared to other children. This risk increases significantly by 40 % for mothers employed in the agriculture sector.A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Childhood Leukemia and Parental Occupational Pesticide Exposure; Donald T. Wigle, Michelle C. Turner, and Daniel Krewski; Environmental Health Perspectives; May 2009; doi:10.1289/ehp.0900582.
HESA report
New Parkinson’s link to pesticides
A new epidemiological study involving the exposure of French farm workers to pesticides found that professional exposure is associated with Parkinson’s Disease, especially for organochlorine insecticides. Led by Alexis Elbaz M.D., Ph.D., of Inserm, the national French institute for health research in Paris, and University Pierre et Marie Curie, the study involved individuals affiliated with the French health insurance organization for agricultural workers who were frequently exposed to pesticides in the course of their work. The study found that Parkinson’s Disease patients had been exposed to pesticides through their work more frequently and for a greater number of years/hours than those without Parkinson’s Disease. Among the three main classes of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides), researchers found the largest difference for insecticides: men who had used insecticides had a two-fold increase in the risk of Parkinson’s Disease. (Note: Heptachlor and Chlordane, the two most common organochlorine pesticides are no longer used in Australia). Science Daily Elbaz et al. Annals of Neurology, 2009; Professional exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's disease.
WorkSafe News
HWSA meets in Perth
The Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) met in Perth last week to discuss the progress of a range of initiatives relating to occupational health and safety management across Australian and New Zealand workplaces. HWSA is made up of senior executives of the Federal, State and Territory workplace safety authorities and New Zealand representatives. On the agenda were priorities for the coming two years, notably the opportunity for work to be done on the administration of regulatory functions to support the implementation of the national OHS legislation.According to HWSA, examples of this work include inspector notices, internal review processes, training, information sharing and compliance and enforcement processes. The meeting also recognised the substantial commitment by the jurisdictions to the development of the national OHS act and regulations.
Other points of interest: Follow-up audits will be conducted between June and August 2009 as part of the Manual Handling in Manufacturing campaign. The follow-up audits will be undertaken within the automotive components, wooden furniture & upholstered seats, sheet/structural fabricated metals and non-metallic products manufacturing sectors to assess whether a sustainable level of compliance has been maintained for the management of manual handling risks. Members endorsed the final report for the Guarding of Machinery in the Manufacturing Industry. Over 450 workplace visits were made as part of the campaign, which was found to lead to a significant improvement in compliance in the industry. The final report can be found on the HWSA website
WorkSafe and HIA offer rebates to bricklayers
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) and WorkSafe Victorian are offering bricklayers a rebate of $500 for the purchase of a new brick elevator.
The rebate program runs until 31 December 2009.
Further details on the HIA website Download application form [pdf]
Tractor driver lucky to be alive
A 21-year-old tractor driver has survived when the tractor he was operating flipped in the Barmah State Forest. The tractor had no rollover protection: WorkSafe has warned farmers and other tractor users that the outcome could have been much different. WorkSafe says rollover protection must be fitted to tractors and the incident should be taken as a warning. The driver was trapped until Country Fire Authority volunteers were able to jack up the machine so he could be removed. Tractor rollover protection has been compulsory for many years, yet WorkSafe inspectors regularly find older tractors without it.VWA media release
Useful Materials
- Machinery - Guarding printing presses
- Machinery - Preventing injury when operating power presses
- Stevedoring - Work environment inspections [pdf]
Worksafe Prosecutions
NSW: Safety manager guilty of obstructing union officials
The NSW IR Commission has thrown out a site safety manager's appeal after he was fined $6,500 for obstructing two union officials engaged in a safety audit. The commission found Michael Dalzell guilty under the NSW OHS Act of "obstructing, hindering or impeding" CFMEU officials Andrew Quirk and Dick Whitehead in the "exercise of their duties" on an unnamed building site in May 2006. Dalzell claimed he only turned a water hose on the union officials after one of them shoved him. But VP Michael Walton and Justices Tricia Kavanagh, Wayne Haylen and Anna Backman found no error in Chief Industrial Magistrate Gregory Hart's original finding that Dalzell alone carried out the aggressive and assaultive behaviour. The commission heard Dalzell locked the men out of the site and called police. Two NSW WorkCover reps and four union officials later arrived to complete the audit, with seven improvement notices issued.NSW WorkCover media release
Poultry giant convicted, fined over fatal safety failings
Poultry processing giant Baiada Poultry Pty has been convicted and fined $100,000 over safety failings that lead to the death of a St Albans truck driver in December 2005. The man was crushed by a steel module that fell from a forklift being driven by an unlicensed teenager. The trial heard that the incident happened at 3.15am as chickens are unloaded at night to minimise stress for the animals. Prosecutors said the company was aware of the risks involved with the loading and unloading of trucks because of a past incident but did not adequately identify, limit or control risks associated with loading and unloading trucks in near darkness. The company also failed to provide safe systems of work as there were no means to separate pedestrians and forklifts and gave no directions to truck drivers to remain in their vehicles during loading and unloading at poultry farms. Baiada sub-contracted the work to DMP Poultech Pty Ltd, which was convicted and fined $400,000 last year after pleading guilty to failing to take care of the safety of people other than employees over the same incident.VWA media release
Roller manufacturer pleads guilty following fatality
A Fairfield industrial roller manufacturer has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a series of safety failings which lead to a horrific fatality in June 2007. The company and manager Raymond Leslie Tough had failed to report an earlier incident at the site where a worker’s hand became entangled in a machine. In June 2007 a worker was hand-sanding a rubber roller when his clothing was caught on a bolt and he was dragged into the machine, where he lost both arms. The worker died at the scene. The company and manager were fined $376,000.
VWA media release
Basic safety failing costs crane company $70,000
A failure to ensure simple safety checks had been done has cost a crane company a conviction, a $70,000 fine and put future contracts at risk. Huntingdale Mobile Cranes (Aust) Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the County Court to failing to provide a safe workplace for employees and people other than employees and was sentenced on 22 May. The court was told was told the company had not checked to ensure locating pins were fitted under a concrete panel its crane had lifted into position, and it had not ensured steel support bracing on the panels were correctly positioned and locked into position in accordance with the Industry Standard for precast and tilt up concrete for buildings http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/resources/file/ebd8bc43a04ad03/tilt_up.pdf.
The concrete panel fell when the steel braces fitted to provide support were removed. A Reservoir man died when he was hit by the panel. It was not alleged that the breaches by Huntingdale Mobile Cranes caused the fatality.
VWA media release
Crane company given enforced undertaking for airport incident
A Tullamarine crane company was given an enforceable undertaking over an incident in which a man was hospitalised for 5 months with serious leg injuries. Panna Cranes Pty was engaged to position concrete jersey barriers to form a walkway across an area of tarmac at the Tiger Airways Terminal at Tullamarine Airport. The three meter barriers weighed approximately 4.3 tonnes. In November 2007 a dogman employed by Panna Cranes sustained serious leg injuries when he was run over from behind by a 16 tonne crane whilst guiding a concrete jersey barrier lengthways in line with the boom of the crane. He suffered extensive injuries to his leg and groin and needed 6 operations.
The Court heard Panna Cranes failed to ensure a system of work to ensure the safety of the dog man guiding the load in front of the crane, by providing for a minimum distance between the dog man and the crane and protection from load movement. The Court issued an enforceable undertaking directing the company to: provide a written apology to the injured person; participate in the publication of a case study and comment in an industry publication; facilitate and deliver a presentation regarding the incident and the positive duty of the employer to ensure a safe system of work to an audience including industry employers, managers and supervisors; the Director to undertake a five day OH&S course; and to donate $15,000 to ‘Limbs 4 Life’ an organisation providing information and formalised support to amputees)
VWA media release
International News
US: As bans near BPA industry tries spinning their toxic product
US companies appear to be repeating the failed strategies of the tobacco and asbestos industries in trying to spin bisphenol A as an important and necessary part of their products. In the US there are growing moves to ban the chemical, which has been shown to have an endocrine disruptor in humans with associated toxic effect, including developmental delays in children, obesity and cancer. In California a bill banning the use of the chemical has passed the lower chamber and could become law soon. In Washington there are moves to examine the links between the BPA industry and federal regulators. With their industry under attack, food packaging manufacturers and chemical industry lobbyists associated with bisphenol A met recently at an exclusive Washington, D.C., club where they hammered out a strategy, including showcasing a pregnant woman to talk about the chemical's supposed benefits. According to reports a pregnant woman would be "the holy grail" to serve as a spokeswoman as attendees apparently doubted they could find a scientist to serve as a spokesperson for BPA. Environmental health campaigners point to the document as evidence the industry knows the science is bad for BPA and has resorted to tobacco industry tactics to spin support for another toxic product.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Effect Measure forum San Francisco Chronicle
Events
Prophet and Loss
A new play commissioned with input from Work-related Grief Support clients, and commissioned by Creative Ministries Network, 'Prophet and Loss' is a thought-provoking and powerful theatre performance telling true stories of some WGS clients bereaved by work-related death.10th to 19th June 2009
Wyselaskie Hall, Uniting Church Centre for Theology & Ministry, 1 Morrison Close, Parkville. Tickets cost $30:00, or $25.00 concession. To purchase your tickets, please ring the booking office on 9340 8842.
At Trades Hall (Cnr Victoria and Lygon St, Carlton Sth)
Return to Work Unit
The Victorian Trades Hall Council Return to Work Unit challenges the barriers that stop injured workers returning to full and meaningful employment. A big part of the VTHC initiative is to provide training to workers and their representatives. Check out the training scheduled for 2009
VTHC OHS Training Centre
Initial 5-Day Metropolitan (for Elected OHS Reps under the Victorian OHS Act - this course is approved by the VWA under Section 67)
June 22 – 26 Initial Carlton
July 6 – 10 Initial Carlton
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $670.00
Initial 5-Day Country
June 29 – July 3 Initial Geelong
Course hours: 9am - 5pm. Course fee $690.00
Comcare 5-Day OHS Reps Course (for Elected OHS Reps under the Comcare Act)
July 13 - 17 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.
June 18 and 19 Carlton
September 17 and 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.
June 15 Legislative Update Carlton
June 16 Psychological Hazards Carlton
July 27 Psychological Hazards Carlton
July 28 Legislative Update Morwell
Course hours: 9am - 4.30pm. Course fee $180.00
Go to the 2009 Training program page of the website for all the dates of upcoming courses, and to download an application form.