transport – Page 35 – SafetyAtWorkBlog

In ROPS we trust

Roll Over Protective Structures (ROPS) are a standard safety design feature on many items of agricultural equipment from tractors to quad bikes. But ROPS do not prevent a rollover, only minimise the risk of injury from a rollover.

The Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has issued a safety alert over a tractor ROPS that failed. The background for the safety alert is:

“A 180 hp tractor towing a 7.8 tonne trailer was travelling at approximately 20 km/h along a single lane bitumen road. To enable a vehicle to pass, the tractor was driven to the side of the road which was corrugated with a sharp drop off and steep drain nearby. When driven back onto the road, the attached trailer slipped down the steep incline into the drain pulling the rear of the tractor sideways. This caused the tractor to roll over, which resulted in the failure of the ROPS fitted to the tractor. The driver suffered fatal injuries.”

Kevin Jones

Lack of separation of pedestrians and forklifts results in $A24k fine

SafeWorkSA has released details of a successful OHS prosecution concerning forklifts, yet again. But the full judgement has more management information than is usual and deserves to be read in full.

The circumstances, according to a media release (not yet available online) are

“…an incident… in August 2007 in which a 56 year old delivery driver tripped over the tines of a forklift which was about to exit the curtained doorway of a cold-room.”

The judgement in the South Australian Industrial Court expands upon the charge:

“… that Kerafi, being the occupier of a workplace, had failed to ensure so far as was reasonably practicable that means of access to and egress from the workplace was safe. Continue reading “Lack of separation of pedestrians and forklifts results in $A24k fine”

Eliminate the safety risk – sack the worker

A curious workplace safety and industrial relations issue has appeared in the Golden Circle factory in Queensland as reported in the Courier-Mail. 57-year-old forklift driver, Lance Pedersen has been sacked because he was found to be morbidly obese and with osteoarthritis in his knees.

The newspaper article raises many personnel management issues and there are sure to be more issues that have not been reported but a remarkable quote is reported from a company spokesperson:

“Golden Circle has an obligation to ensure the health and safety of all our employees,” the spokesman said. “We are therefore unable to continue to employ Mr Pedersen.” Continue reading “Eliminate the safety risk – sack the worker”

Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia

Prominent OHS unionist, Yossi Berger*, has attempted to place the issue of quad bike safety in the greater context of OHS In the latest issue of the Australian Workers’ Union’s Say Safety magazine (only available in hard copy).

Berger says that the current debate between safety advocates and vehicle manufacturers over quad bikes is the latest illustration of a debate that leads nowhere while workers continue to be injured and killed.

A current debate in Australia about quad bike safety

“…unfortunately looks like following a similar pattern. The use of this machine kills hundreds of riders around the world every year, and in Australia – occupationally – about 15 every year, mostly in farming. It looks like the entire discussion (for improvement) is going to develop into another description of how not to achieve fundamental OHS improvements.” Continue reading “Quad bike safety remains a hot topic in Australia”

Case study of existing hazards in the new legislative context

Last month Joe Catanzariti of the Australian law firm, Clayton Utz, wrote a short article that links two OHS issues in a manner that others should follow.

Catanzariti made the jump from a prosecution under current New South Wales OHS legislation (according to many the most draconian in Australia) to identify how such a decision would be made under the harmonise OHS law system through the Work, Health and Safety Act. The perspective needs to be applied more as it assists greatly in transitioning our understanding of “old” law to the new. Continue reading “Case study of existing hazards in the new legislative context”

Forklift incident costs NZ company over $34,000

New Zealand’s Department of Labour (DoL) has released a statement that illustrates a classic scenario for forklift safety. According to the statement :

“The employee was walking in a freezer when he was hit from behind by a forklift carrying a 10-carton-high pallet of packed meat. The Department’s investigation showed the height of the load impeded the driver’s view and contributed to the incident.

The employee’s hip and thigh were fractured. He was in hospital for three weeks and has only recently returned to full-time work.”

The incident occurred in April 2009 with the company being fined $NZ34,000. Continue reading “Forklift incident costs NZ company over $34,000”

Ergonomics of quad bikes – new research

While the New Zealand government is investigating agricultural safety issues, researchers from the University of Otago have looked at the ergonomic issues associated with the loss of control (LOC) of quad bikes by drivers.

According to a University of Otago media release, researchers Dr Stephan Milosavljevic and Dr Allan Carman published a paper in the current edition of Ergonomics. The researchers

“….set out to analyse the driving behaviour of people who regularly use quad bikes, recognising a need to find out why people lose control of them so frequently.

Of the 30 male rural workers and farmers studied, 19 of them, or 63 percent, had experienced loss of control on a quad bike. They were in their mid 40s on average, and about eight to nine years younger and less experienced than those who did not lose control. Continue reading “Ergonomics of quad bikes – new research”

Category: transport

In ROPS we trust

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