Tag: workplace

Australia’s national safety award winners

This evening in Canberra, Safe Work Australia announced the winners of the 5th Annual Safe Work Australia Awards. The profiles below are provided by Safe Work Australia.

The winners are:

Best Workplace Health and Safety Management System – Private Sector

GHD, South Australia

“GHD South Australia uses an electronic workplace health and safety management system accessible to all employees and has a workflow element to ensure that the necessary safety analysis and reporting is undertaken for all projects. Continue reading “Australia’s national safety award winners”

Mining company trial set over cyclone deaths

Further to the SafetyAtWorkBlog article about the prosecution of Fortescue Metals Group, The Australian newspaper reports on 28 April 2010 that the trial will start tomorrow.

The article states that

“Lawyers for the Department of Commerce — prosecuting the case through WorkSafe — successfully argued the site was not a mine and was instead a camp for workers constructing a railway to transport iron ore.”

The company was arguing that the site was a mining support site and that its contractors were responsible.

Interestingly the Magistrate, Joe Randazzo, wants a definition of “safe refuge”.  This may lead to a reconsideration of the use of dongas, or temporary accommodation units, in areas of extreme weather conditions.  There is the potential for safety improvements from this case and not just  a punishment.

Kevin Jones

Exploding restaurant kettle risks

WorkSafeBC is a regular provider of useful safety videos.  In mid-April 2010 the regulator released a latest video that reports on an exploding soup kettle in a restaurant that injured several workers with steel shrapnel and steam.

Safety prevention videos are costly to produce properly and WorkSafeBC has followed a process that is informative and simple but providing a slide show with an audio commentary.  This is a technique that makes use of the many incident photos that OHS investigators take without compromising the investigation and still offering a much more attractive and appealing safety alert.  It is a technique that other OHS regulators should consider.

Kevin Jones

How revolutionary could the Work Health and Safety Act be?

In April 2010, the Australian Government is busy negotiating a new health reform package.  It is likely that the next stage of the reforms will be in the Australian Senate which brings Nick Xenophon into the negotiations.  On 21 April 2010,  The Australian reported Xenophon saying:

“…he had “an open mind” on the deal brokered by the Prime Minister yesterday but wanted to ensure it had a strong emphasis on preventative health, which was the ultimate “test of the health system”.”

Senator, Nick Xenophon, provides a good example of how personal ideals cross social boundaries and professional disciplines.  His focus on the prevention of harm covers public safety and workplace safety illustrates the interconnection that an ethical stance can bring social issues that are governed under different laws and expectations. Continue reading “How revolutionary could the Work Health and Safety Act be?”

Fortescue Metals contests cyclone deaths

In December 2008 Fortescue Metals Group said it would contest charges it breached OHS laws over the death of two people.  In April 2010, it is seeking to avoid the charges.

On March 9 2007, tropical cyclone George hit a camp site in north-west Australia killing two people and injuring others.  The temporary accommodation shelters, “dongas”, in which workers were sheltering provided insufficient protection for many workers.

According to one media report on 12 April 2010, the lawyer for FMG,  John Karkar,

“…. said his clients’ operations were governed by the Mines Safety Inspections Act because the Pilbara camp was built for the accommodation of mine workers and workers who were building a railway line which was to be used to transport iron ore.” Continue reading “Fortescue Metals contests cyclone deaths”

If laptop design is hazardous, what does this say about the iPad?

Recently SafetyAtWorkBlog received some promotional material from a laptop accessory supplier, ErgoAustralia, which stated that  laptops may be “the RSI of this decade especially for the growing bones and muscles of our children”.  The aim of the information was to show how accessories can reduce the risk of using laptop computers.

There is no doubt that this is so.  This blog is often written in a cafe through a fold away keyboard and back at the office, the laptop sits on a stand with a wireless keyboard and mouse but the laptop is not the principal PC on which work is performed.  That is a desktop PC.

When laptops are the only computer option and the work tasks rely on laptops, the complications and hazards occur.

Rick Clancy of ErgoAustralia provided the following quotes in support of the dangers of laptops:

Alan Hedge from Cornell University says the following “Guidelines for laptop use are more difficult because laptop design inherently is problematic – Continue reading “If laptop design is hazardous, what does this say about the iPad?”

Information flow is critical for sound Board decisions on OHS

Peter Arthur, a Partner with Australian law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson, spoke on Boardroom Radio on 1 April 2010 about new duties that national OHS laws will place on Directors.

Although there are six elements in the new general duty, Arthur says that they all can come under the category of “information flow”.   Continue reading “Information flow is critical for sound Board decisions on OHS”

© Workplace Safety Services P/L (ABN: 68091088621) and SafetyAtWorkBlog, 2008-2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kevin Jones and SafetyAtWorkBlog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Concatenate Web Development
© Designed and developed by Concatenate Aust Pty Ltd