Category: health

Non-fatal injuries summary

Below is a summary of non-fatal workplace incidents handled by Victoria’s Metropolitan Ambulance Service over the last few weeks.

Many of these incidents gain no media attention principally due to the fact that the workers did not die but the incidents are of relevance ot safety professionals and provide a better perspective on the frequency of workplace incidents.

Hand injuries

The first case saw advanced life support paramedics from Footscray called to an Altona North address at 8am.

The Paramedic, Cameron Joyce, said when they arrived they were told the 42-year-old woman had been working with machinery when the accident happened.  “‘The woman told us that the fingers on her left hand were crushed for only two or three seconds. Continue reading “Non-fatal injuries summary”

Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig

More information is coming to light about the treatment of survivors of the explosion on the Transocean oil rig.  According to an article (and podcast) on National Public Radio on 6 May 2010, company lawyers for Transocean had survivors sign waivers within hours of the disaster.

The article says:

“The form that they made them sign had, ‘I was here when it happened, I didn’t see anything.’ Or ‘I saw this and I was or was not hurt,’ ” says Steven Gordon, a Houston attorney who represents some of the survivors…. Continue reading “Treatment of workers from Transocean oil rig”

Heart disease risk findings in women

The May 2010 edition of the  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine includes an important report about the increase of heart disease risk in young women.  There is often a lot of reports into the cardiovascular health of men so this report is very useful.

The basic findings of the report are:

“Nurses who indicated that their work pressures were a little too high were 25% more likely to have ischaemic heart disease as those who said their work pressures were manageable and appropriate.

But those who felt work pressures were much too high were almost 50% more likely to have ischaemic heart disease. After taking account of risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking and lifestyle, the risk fell to 35%, but still remained significant.” Continue reading “Heart disease risk findings in women”

The struggle to achieve cultural change on OHS

In 2008, a New South Wales Parliamentary Committee reported to the Government on problems with that State’s Ambulance Services.  The problems included bullying, harassment and a dysfunctional management.  A review into the Ambulance Services progress on the recommendations two years later has found :

“…the general feedback received from ambulance officers is that despite the new initiatives, little has changed, and significant management and cultural problems remain within the Service. While awareness of the Service’s new policies and initiatives appears to be high, adherence to and application of the policies – particularly by Ambulance managers – appears to be low, or at best, varied.” Continue reading “The struggle to achieve cultural change on OHS”

Shift work research findings are grounds for big concern

A scientific symposium held in Canada in April 2010 has raised some serious concerns about the health impacts of shift work.  Some of the evidence has existed for a while but collecting it all together makes one wonder how companies can justify shift work in the face of such high risks to workers’ health.

From the evidence presented at the symposium, workers will be tired at work when working shift work and are more likely to be injured than those on day shift.  Some workers have an increased risk of breast cancer.  Foetal growth in some pregnant women may be impeded.  Circadian disruption may encourage the growth of tumours and an international agency is convinced sufficiently of the risks to determine that shift work itself is probably carcinogenic.

The Occupational Cancer Research Centre and the Institute for Work & Health should be applauded for making the evidence presented at the symposium publicly accessible.   Continue reading “Shift work research findings are grounds for big concern”

Casino smoking comes under a cloud

Crown Casino is a regulatory anomaly in many ways.   Smoking in workplaces has been a particularly difficult one for the casino.  When bans were first mooted the casino tried several control measures including air curtains between croupiers and smoking gamblers but the casino eventually agreed to be smoke-free, except in its high rollers venue, the Mahogany Room.

Now the poor air quality in that room is under threat due to one worker who, reportedly, seeking compensation for contracting lung cancer from her work activities.  According to a newspaper report four other employees are seeking relocation and have including the issue of smoking risks as one of the reasons.  Crown Casino has confirmed that smoking concerns have been raised. Continue reading “Casino smoking comes under a cloud”

New Mesothelioma Registry and government answers asbestos questions

The Australian Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, this morning launched the latest Australian Mesothelioma Registry.  SafetyAtWorkBlog took the opportunity to ask Safe Work Australia some specific questions about asbestos and government policy.  Their responses are below.

The government has awarded the contract for the new Australian Mesothelioma Registry to a consortium led by the Cancer Institute of NSW. Continue reading “New Mesothelioma Registry and government answers asbestos questions”

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