April Updates
Axento Safety: Providing you with expert health and safety management solutions to enhance your business success.
Legislation update:
AS 1647: Fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders
The Australian Standard for fixed platforms, walkways, stairways and ladders has been revised and the biggest changes are about the design of fixed ladders, labelling of access systems and testing of rails. The revised standard: AS1657 provides a good summary of the changes made.
Is your business adequately preventing falls from heights injuries?
The statistics regarding injuries caused by falls from height at work are significant. Approximately 7700 ‘falls from heights’ claims for serious injuries were lodged in 12 months (2010 to 2011).
A Safe Work Australia (SWA) report found that a typical fall-related claim involved about 6 weeks off work, which was 2 weeks more than the average time off work for other serious injuries.
The report stated that not only were most falls caused by steps, stairways or ladders but that 75% of the falls claims were from male workers.– Work-related injuries and fatalities involving a fall from height, Australia is worth reading.
Unreasonable Warning Renders Long-Serving Employee’s Dismissal Unfair
Jons Comments: Dismissing employees is sometimes necessary. The last thing you need is for the dismissal to backfire. Some good tips are attached to the following case history
Employers must be careful when seeking to rely on prior written warnings issued to an employee to justify a subsequent decision to dismiss, according to law firm Holding Redlich. Read more..
Employee found guilty.
No details of charges against the employer are evident in this prosecution which makes it even more significant Plant operator convicted
A mobile operator has pleaded guilty for breaching his duties as an employee after an incident where the sweeper he was operating in reverse struck and killed another worker.
Common task results in amputation.
A worker had his leg amputated after being run over by an excavator at a construction site in Sydney. Using tyres to protect the bitumen has resulted in an excavator running over a workers leg, it could have easily killed him. Excavator amputation .
Jons Comments: I have seen this activity occur several times where tyres are moved from behind the machine to the front as the machine steadily moves across a road. This practice is highly dangerous and totally unacceptable. The machine MUST be stopped for all tyre movement and the exclusion zone applies whilst the machine is moving.
Angle Grinders
Many organisations have banned the use of 9inch angle grinders. A New Zealand man was cutting some metal legs off a conveyer belt with a disc grinder when it kicked back and embedded in his chest. Horror grinder incident This article does not identify what size grinder was involved but the risks associated with them are clear .
Jons Comments: Do you have adequate controls over the use of angle grinders? Will you follow the lead of many larger companies and ban the use of larger angle grinders?
Warning over Social Media Use on Mine Sites
Jons Comments: All organisations can be adversely impacted by information being put into the public domain. I have seen legal-in-confidence investigations being undermined by the posting of photos and comments on social media.
Resources companies need to have an effective social media policy in place which is clear, as concise as possible and which provides guidance around safe and appropriate use in order to minimise the risks of social media use at specific worksites, according to a workplace lawyer. Read more…
No Perfect Metrics for Assessing Safety Performance
Jons Comments: Some interesting statistics are attached. The really important thing for all businesses is to have metrics that encourage the management and employee behaviours we need for safely productive business activity. Question: Do your safety metrics assist you to achieve your business plan?
More ASX top 100 companies are reporting safety statistics years – a trend which is in line with increased expectations from investors that companies will report safety data and demonstrate active programs to manage safety, according to a recent report. Read more..
Supervisors Crucial in Return to Work
Jons Comments: Good suggestions for your supervisors should you have a worker off work Employers play a pivotal role in the recovery and early return to work of injured workers, and the role of supervisors is the most crucial of all, according to WorkCover Queensland. Read more..
Increased Demand for Competency Drives OHS Training
There are a number of notable trends in the OHS training space, and organisations are increasingly demanding competency-based training, particularly where learning is assessed by an independent body to verify competence levels, according to a leading supplier of safe automation and safety services. Read more…
Jons Comments: Are you getting high quality information? Perhaps further building the skills and qualifications of your employees is necessary or at least be informed by external providers who are competent to provide appropriate and well informed health and safety advice.
Safety Warning Over Flashback Arrestors
WorkSafe WA recently issued a safety alert highlighting the importance of the safety requirements relating to the design, manufacture, importation and supply of flashback arrestors for use on gas cylinders and blowpipes at a workplace where welding and allied processes are carried out. Read more…
Jons Comments: Good information provided for preventing fires/explosions
Why Accounting Professionals Need to Mind Health and Safety Governance
Senior accounting and finance professionals play a critical role in controlling an organisation’s performance, and as potential officers who have a duty of care under the Health and Safety Act, need to change their thinking from ‘resourcing health and safety’ to ‘resourcing safe and healthy work’ when it comes to OHS. Read more…
Jons Comments: THIS IS CRITICAL READING FOR THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM
Focus on your productive activities and achieve them safely.