OHS – Page 459 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

Union movement misdirects on OHS

According to an AAP report on 3 June 2009, the ACTU is forecasting action on the matter of workplace deaths. Although the issues is heartfelt and important, the Australian union movement mostly discusses OHS in relation to its opposition to the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The AAP report is a good reflection of this.

ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence states that the rate of workplace fatality is unacceptable but is then quoted as saying

“The high level of deaths and injuries in the construction industry is a national disgrace and yet safety standards have got worse in the period the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has operated.”

It has never been the role of the ABCC to regulate workplace safety obligations. That obligation sits with the State OHS authorities and maybe the Australian Safety & Compensation Council (now Safe Work Australia).The union movement has been instrumental in improving safety on worksites throughout Australia but Jeff Lawrence’s misdirection to the ABCC does a disservice to the efforts of OHS professional and health & safety representatives.

Kevin Jones

Legal opinion on Australia’s model OHS laws

The comments on the Australian Government’s response to the report into Australia’s model OHS laws have been pretty muted. There were the obligatory compliments from those in favour and the obligatory criticisms from those against but both types of response were in the immediate aftermath of the Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council meeting in mid-May 2009.

Going from the institutional and media quiet, there must be few changes that are expected to have any great impact. Law firm Blake Dawson released their take on the government’s response. Here is their advice to employers – pretty much “wait and see”:

Lessons for employers

The decisions made by the WRMC on the proposed national model OHS Act will bring changes to virtually all areas of OHS in all Australian jurisdictions.

All employers and other duty holders should carefully review the model OHS Act upon its release and consider whether changes need to be made in advance of the laws being enacted.

Particular areas of focus are likely to be:

ensuring all duty holders have a clear understanding of the nature and scope oftheir duties and obligations;

ensuring that officers of corporations are taking proactive steps to promote health and safety;

in respect of some Australian jurisdictions (eg NSW) preparation for the introduction of health and safety representatives and the role that HSRs may play in an organisation;

thorough preparation for regulator investigations.

It is strongly recommended that their full “alert” be read for interest.

Kevin Jones

Presenteeism and swine flu

Craig Donaldson interviewed Joydeep Hor, managing partner of Australian law firm Harmers on employment issues related to the swine flu outbreak. Joydeep rightly points out that HR and OHS processes should not differentiate between swine flu and other workplace illnesses. Hor briefly discusses the employers duty of care and how to question one’s traditional approaches to the “sniffles” at work.

Of course there is also the much under-enforced obligation of the employee not to put their work colleagues at risk – the major argument against presenteeism.

Kevin Jones

Trade union OHS protests are shortsighted

On the eve of the ACTU Congress, the construction unions have threatened disruptions to building sites in, not surprisingly, New South Wales. This State was always going to be the one with the most to give up for the sake of national harmonisation of OHS laws.

It is reported in the Australian Financial Review on 2 June 2009 (page 11, not available online) that the CFMEU acting state secretary, Jim Tulloch, has said

“This is a line in the sand issue for trade unions……There’s a lack of leadership at the federal level and lots of states have been coerced into signing something that they are going to be held accountable for.”

This may be the case and the CFMEU may be positioning themselves prior to the ACTU Congress but the disruption is a risky strategy. Not only would any of the action be illegal, the Federal Government has yet not abolished the draconian Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC). Union protesters are likely to find themselves again in front of the ABCC being forced to answer questions.

The national OHS system is still being finalised but the union action will serve little purpose other than confirming the political perspective that the New South Wales government is overly influenced by the union movement. Surely by now the union movement has learnt there are other ways to achieve aims than by confrontation.

Kevin Jones

Guarding – last line of defence

Guards around power tools or over moving parts of equipment (e.g. covers over compressor pulleys) are there for seriously good reasons. Injuries and deaths from people getting cut or caught in machinery keep happening all the time.

It’s a common misunderstanding that bits of clothes caught in moving machinery can’t be that dangerous, after all cloth rips doesn’t it? Wrong.

A loose bit of overall sleeve caught in between a pulley and pulley belt is unlikely to rip. It will have an arm or hand mangled in a micro second. Nip points on equipment can catch skin. A de-gloved hand, where a pinch of skin is caught in machinery and the skin is ripped off the hand is as ugly as it sounds.

Do regular checks of things like angle grinders and moving parts of equipment to make sure the guards originally fitted are still in place and doing the job they have to. People will remove guards.

Have a policy that when guards are removed to do repair or maintenance work on equipment the guards are refitted as soon as those sort of jobs are done.

Monitor use of power tools in the workshop. Stop any work being done with power tools when the guard has been removed.

Don’t consider that a guard isn’t necessary if an operator is using some other sort of personal protective gear (e.g. using protective eye gear with a bench grinder that has no fitted shield in front of the grinder wheel). Treat safety as a thing that works best in layers. Murphy’s Law never rests. One level of safety protection will always fail at the wrong time.

Do regular checks on all guards on tools and equipment. Make it a specific check. Include an evaluation of whether equipment that can catch clothes or part of a body is properly guarded. Modern equipment designers are generally pretty good at making sure guards are fitted where they need to be, older gear is not so well designed. If it seems entirely possible for a person to get caught by a moving bit of equipment look at having a guard made and fitted: use a specialist to do that.

Readers are at liberty to use this stuff as they see fit, but acknowledgement of the author and the source (i.e. SafetyatWorkBlog) is expected. Contact Kevin Jones first if ya wanna use it. Cheers.

Col Finnie
c ol@finiohs.com
www.finiohs.com

Safety In Action Conference 2008

The 2008 Safety In Action Conference in Melbourne Australia included a single-day stream of prominent CEO’s talking about safety.

I suggested to the stream host that it would be a good idea to have each of them respond to a question-without-notice in order to personalise each speaker. This video shows Dr Ziggy Switkowski‘s response.

Kevin Jones

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.831833&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

more about “Safety In Action Conference 2008“, posted with vodpod

Offshore industry regulator performance

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) has released a report of its own OHS performance based on data from 2005 to 2007. NOPSA has been in the public eye far more than normal due to the Varanus Island explosion and the various investigatory reports.

The report seems to indicate that, as a regulator, NOPSA is performing to expectations. NOPSA’s CEO John Clegg has acknowledged that the industry is below the level of its overseas counterparts. This is peculiar given that other Australian resources industries, like mining, are ahead of other countries and that safety in the offshore industry has had a high profile ever since Piper Alpha.

The report identifies challenges that are difficult but not very surprising:

improving leadership – strong leadership is required for the Australian industry to move to the next level

dealing with a shortage of skilled personnel

managing ageing facilities and minimising gas releases

It will be very interesting to watch the benchmarking of NOPSA and its future role through the OHS harmonisation process that Australia is undergoing.

Below is the full report and the performance summary.

Kevin Jones

Category: OHS

Union movement misdirects on OHS

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Legal opinion on Australia’s model OHS laws

Lessons for employers

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Presenteeism and swine flu

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Trade union OHS protests are shortsighted

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Guarding – last line of defence

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Safety In Action Conference 2008

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Offshore industry regulator performance

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Lessons for employers

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