Category: government

Apprentice set on fire, bully gets $5k penalty

Most of the Australian media covered the prosecution of the latest of three young men who set fire to a work colleague during their apprenticeships.

As the case was heard in a Magistrates’ Court, the only sources of information on the case are a couple of original media reports and the statement from WorkSafe Victoria which says:

“Matthew Lever, 23, was the third apprentice to be prosecuted after a January 2008 incident where three apprentice mechanics ignited brake-cleaning fluid which they sprayed on another apprentice….

The Ringwood Magistrates’ court today [1 July 2010] convicted Matthew Lever on three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and fined him $5,000. The two other apprentices were convicted on health and safety charges in December 2008, and also fined $5,000 each.” [link added]

WorkSafe says it is “currently investigating a similar incident which occurred in Dandenong in March, where two apprentice mechanics suffered burn injuries after allegedly igniting brake fluid.” Continue reading “Apprentice set on fire, bully gets $5k penalty”

Another Australia emergency organisation faces bullying claims

Emergency service organisations, like the military, are susceptible to accusations of bullying due to the hierarchical command structure on which they are based. 

For decades this type of structure has been seen as a requirement for efficient emergency response or other activities under tight timelines and high expectations.  It would not take much to perceive one’s supervisor saying “move it, move it, move it” or similar, over time as a repeated insult and, being repeated, an instance of bullying.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is reporting on claims by the former president of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Board (MFB), Adrian Nye, who was stood down in April 2010.  The ABC says Nye has accused the MFB of having a culture of bullying. 

CEO Graeme Fountain has called in KPMG to investigate Nye’s claims.

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the hierarchical command structure is no longer compatible with contemporary expectations of respect, health, safety or wellbeing.  Continue reading “Another Australia emergency organisation faces bullying claims”

Safety needs to be seen to be more than politics

Any optimism that one may have felt over the appointment of Cath Bowtell as the executive director of WorkSafe Victoria may be very short-lived if the reports on the cover of The Age newspaper are to be believed.  The Age reports that Cath Bowtell is the frontrunner for a seat in the Australian Parliament following the MP for Melbourne, Lindsay Tanner’s decision to not contest the upcoming federal election.

For those who want political discussions on the Labor Party machinations, this is not the right blog.  IF Cath Bowtell enters the race for a Federal seat, what does this say about the position of WorkSafe’s executive director? Continue reading “Safety needs to be seen to be more than politics”

New UK podcast on drilling regulation

HSE podcasts are almost always worth listening to.  The June 2010 podcast capitalises on the topicality of offshore oil drilling generated by the BP incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

The podcast is available for listening online

The important element of the podcast is whether such deepwater drilling incidents could occur elsewhere?  This is useful not only for the UK jurisdiction but for Europe and Australia.

The interview discusses the value of a “safety case” regulatory regime and the disadvantages of a prescriptive regime.

Interestingly the UK wells are individually notified to HSE almost a month before drilling is due to commence.  This allows for an assessment of the well design and structure prior to activation.

Clearly, this approach stems from the Piper Alpha explosion in 1988.  The BP Gulf incident can be considered the United States’ Piper Alpha.

It raises the question of did BP, an English company that should have been well aware of the usefulness of the safety case approach to drilling, apply a different approach to its Gulf drilling contractors to that applied elsewhere, and why?  Was BP really committed to “best practice” in safety, or as it called it “beyond the best“?

More OHS charges laid over insulation installer deaths

The OHS investigation process into the deaths of installers of insulation in Australia has led to charges being laid against Arrow Property Maintenance Pty Ltd.

On 28 June 2010, Queensland’s Department of Justice and Attorney-General has charged the company with breaches of both the  Electrical Safety Act 2002 and the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 following an extensive investigation into the fatal electrocution of a 16-year-old teenage insulation installer in Stanwell in 2009.

The charges relate to unsafe electrical work and unsafely working at height during the installation of fibreglass insulation.

Interestingly the Department has also mentioned in its media release (not yet available online) a separate prosecution under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 that is strengthened by it also being an

“… alleged breach of a Ministerial Notice issued on 1 November 2009 Continue reading “More OHS charges laid over insulation installer deaths”

New suicide report has something to say about workplace mental health

Work-related suicides have been in the press a lot in Australia over the last six months.  In June 2010, the Australian Government released a report into suicide called The Hidden Toll: Suicide in Australia.  It covers suicide as a social issue broadly but there are some mentions in the report about work-related suicides that are worth noting.

On social costs:

“Ms Dulcie Bird of the Dr Edward Koch Foundation argued that whole communities are often affected when a suicide occurs and described low estimates of the number of people effected by suicide as ‘a load of nonsense’. She gave the example of the suicide of a 16-year-old boy in a small town and noted her organisation had completed ’43 face-to-face interventions for that one suicide’. The Foundation commented that suicide results in the loss of the deceased person’s contribution to society as a whole. Continue reading “New suicide report has something to say about workplace mental health”

Explosive impacts from the Quin Investments prosecution still to be felt

The Quin Investment prosecution in South Australia is a good indication of the importance of workplace safety and equipment maintenance.

On 24 June 2010, Quin Investments and one of its directors Nikolai Kuzub were found guilty of breaches of OHS law in South Australia by Industrial Magistrate Ardlie.  The incident involved an explosion at an explosives factory in May 2006 that killed three workers, injured two others and flattened the factory.  Pieces of equipment were located over 600 metres away, houses a kilometre away were damaged and the explosion was heard 40 kilometres away according to one media report.

Grant Germein, the lawyer representing Quin Investments, has asserted a conspiracy from, at least, the start of the court case:

“He said the company was being used as a scapegoat and SafeWork SA’s investigation into the incident was “not directed at the cause of the explosion”, but to “see if they could find a culprit”. Continue reading “Explosive impacts from the Quin Investments prosecution still to be felt”

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