Graphic ads or videos from OHS regulators are not new but each has their own approach and WorkSafe BC has released one, in particular, that is of interest to the construction industry.
On first viewing, the conduct of the supervisor is annoying. He provides inadequate information to the worker. He approves of the wrong tool for the job. Others may see nothing but a silly young worker. Continue reading “Graphic hazard video from WorkSafe BC”
An opinion piece was published in the New Zealand Herald on 12 January 2011 concerning quad bikes. There are several points raised by Donald Aubrey, vice-president of Federated Farmers and chairman of the Agricultural Health and Safety Council that can be disputed.
“In the hands of the untrained or the over-confident they can be deadly. And quad bike safety is far from being a problem exclusive to the agricultural sector.”
From the outset Aubrey’s position is clear, the problem with quad bike safet is not design-related, it is lack of training and over-confidence. Training for quad bike riding has existed for many years and injuries continue to occur. At what point should more effective controls be introduced? Continue reading “NZ Farmers rep enters quad bike safety debate”
In March 2010, SafetyAtWorkBlog reported on the deaths of two farmers in the rural town of Rainbow in Victoria. They died when a windmill they were transporting on a property made contact with overhead power lines. The deaths continue to be a difficult topic of discussion throughout the Wimmera-Mallee, as I found out over the Christmas holiday season.
The coronial inquest into the deaths of John and Michael Helyar began in Horsham in November 2010 and will continue in April 2011. Some of the inquest reports in the local newspaper make for harrowing reading but also provide an important insight into the decision-making process that occurs at the site of a workplace fatality and one that involves close friends.
The two articles are
Coronial inquest into tragedy at Rainbow, and
A recent prosecution by SafeWorkSA illustrates an odd situation but one of considerable importance.
The media release of 15 December 2010 reports on the the penalties given to Hermes Precisa Pty Ltd (A$24,600) and Salmat Document Management Solutions Pty Ltd (A$22,400) for breaches of OHS law in May 2008. The circumstances of the offence are:
” A male plant operator was working with a large guillotine to remove the spines from stationery, when his fingertips were crushed by the clamp of the machine, necessitating their eventual amputation. He remains employed by the company.
The investigation revealed that the employee had received only verbal training and instruction on the use of the machine, and was required to use a wooden block to square up stacks of papers that were to be trimmed.
SafeWork SA told the court that the wooden block was insufficient to protect the worker’s hand and neither company provided safe systems of work for the task involved. A purpose-built blocking tool that did protect the operator’s hand had been lost a year previously. “
The obvious lesson from the incident is in the last paragraph – maintain safety equipment and replace what is broken or lost.
But the curious element of the prosecution is that it is rare for two companies to be prosecuted and guilty for the one offence. Continue reading “Make buying a business a safe choice”
WorkSafe WA has reported on a quad-bike related death of a 68-year-old man in the evening of 12 December 2010. Details are scarce as OHS inspectors have only been able to attend the scene this morning.
The WorkSafe media release (soon to be available online) states:
“WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a 68-year-old man on a farm at Crooked Brook, near Dardanup south of Bunbury, last night.
The farmer was believed to have left his house to move cows from one paddock to another. When he did not return, a family member went to look for him and found him under an upturned quad bike.”
Details of the type of terrain, safety features of the quad bike and the type of PPE on site were not available at the time of writing. Continue reading “West Australian farmer found dead under his quadbike”
Yossi Berger recently criticized the award-winning “Homecoming” ads of WorkSafe that have been rebroadcast in the US. Berger said that the awareness raising ads do not contribute to saving lives.
Workplace Health & Safety Queensland has produced a series of survivor stories that, if the wider working community gets to see them, are an enlightening view of the reality of work-related injuries. The latest film in the series is “Between a rock and a hard place – The Garry Nichols story” and concerns the impact of a tractor roll-over.
The films benefit enormously from the analysis of contributing factors to the incident. Continue reading “Powerful OHS stories on YouTube”
Scandinavia has been the region of choice for many OHS and industrial relations reforms but now something has come from the other side of the world, New Zealand, which should excite OHS professionals.
The Department of Labour (DoL) has released a “self-help diagnostic tool” to identify safety culture. The DoL Workplace Services Group Manager, Maarten Quivooy, says
“One of the best ways to improve a safety culture is to start measuring it. This tool gives businesses the guidance they need to understand what’s working well and where there is room for improvement…
“It can be used by any industry or business that is motivated to improve its health and safety performance. Ultimately it will help a business make a start diagnosing its culture and, most importantly, planning for change. Building a better safety culture builds a better business.”
The basis of the tool is a short survey which includes 24 simple questions that will generate important discussions individually but could provide a fairly decent indication of a company’s safety culture if the workplace honestly completes it. Continue reading “New safety culture diagnostic tool”