December Updates
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In addition to incident investigations and expert witness services, Axento Safety’s focus is to help create safe, healthy, innovative AND PRODUCTIVE workplaces. Axento Safety partner with you to take the pain out of health and safety, provide safety management systems, reduce the paperwork, achieve certifications, enable increased compliance, enable productivity improvement and achieve this cost effectively.
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Christmas and 2017
To all the wonderful people that I have met in person, over the phone, on LinkedIn and elsewhere, I wish you all the best for 2017 and hope the coming year brings you lots of love, laughter, good health and prosperity. Jon
AS 4801 and OHSAS 18001: changes to ISO 45001 in 2017
Certified AS 4801 and OHSAS 18001 safety management systems will probably need to be certified to a new Standard: ISO 45001.
The draft international standard ISO 45001 is expected to be published in June 2017, with a three-year transition period to follow. If you are currently certified to AS 4801 or OHSAS 18001, I understand that you can maintain your certification throughout the proposed 3 year transition period but will probably need to meet ISO 45001 requirements to maintain your certification after that. I will provide further details when known and will be able to assist your transition if required.
National consistency in explosives regulations
Safe Work Australia recently welcomed the decision by work health and safety ministers to progress reforms outlined in the Explosives Regulation in Australia: Decision Regulation Impact Statement. Read more…
Jons Comments: We tried to get nationally consistent or ‘harmonised’ OHS /WHS legislation across Australia and failed. Work has begun to get nationally consistent explosives regulations in place. It is important that they succeed.
Chemical management: changes
If you are not already aware, details of the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for the classification and labelling of chemicals, together with a range of guidance material on classification, labelling and Safety Data Sheets has been published by Safe Work Australia and can be found at: http://wwwsafeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/whs-information/hazardouschemicals/pages/hazardous-chemiclas-other-substances In Victoria, manufacturers, importers, suppliers and users of chemical products purchased or supplied from 1 January 2017 must comply with the new GHS system. At this stage it is OK to use up older stock purchased under the Dangerous Goods/Hazardous Substances legislation to be replaced by GHS based legislation on 1 Jan 2017. Full details available from: The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling , Manufacturers and suppliers , Your legal duties .
Construction safety evaluation reports
WorkSafe’s Construction Program has released evaluation reports on the effectiveness of two recent construction focus campaigns.
- Read the Evaluation Report on the Safety of Workers and Traffic focus undertaken over four weeks in August and September
- Read the Construction Safety Focus information sheet – Safe Worker and Traffic
- Read the Evaluation Report on the Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention focus undertaken during October
- Read the Construction Safety Focus information sheet – Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention
Jons comments: If you work in an area relaed to construction, at least some of these articles should be on interest
Horse riding and handling –new safety resource
SafeWork NSW is about to release a Code of Practice titled “Managing risks when new or inexperienced riders or handlers interact with horses in the workplace” http://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/79160/Horse-code-of-practice-8262.pdf
For everyone who works with or enjoys interactions with horses, this should make useful reading.
Safe use of angle grinders
WA’s Department of Mines and Petroleum has issued a safety alert on angle grinders after receiving 28 injury notifications for workers who were using either a four- or five-inch angle grinders; since 1 January 2016. Read more…
Jons Comments: Angle grinders are a regular addition to these newsletters and for good reason, I heard of yet another serious injury today where a worker was hospitalised with serious lacerations to his thigh as a result of losing control of an angle grinder. Many organisations have already banned the use of 9” grinders. If you still use 9” grinders, double check that you are happy with your risk controls: my recommendation is to ban them. The use of smaller angle grinders needs tight management to avoid further serious injuries. Among other controls, the use of both hands to control them is critical to safe use.
Digging into underground services
There are numerous examples of failing to indentify the location of underground services and digging into them, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. This example Gas-main-struck-by-contractor-resulting-in-fire-and-serious-injury demonstrates how easy it is to get into trouble if you do not check first.
Concerns over site induction of injured 16-year-old
A 16-year-old worker with virtually no construction experience appears to have been inducted onto a worksite as a “carpenter” the day before he fell seven metres down a staircase void. Read more
Jons comments: This sort of incident is all too common: visitors, apprentices and new workers not being given adequate inductions before being let loose on site. Whether it is a construction site or any other site, the requirement for being competent to safely be there is important, otherwise the person needs to be actively escorted and supervised.
Prosecution summaries
WorkSafe has updated its list of prosecution summaries as at 18 November 2016 Read more
Jons comments: as usual, it is worthwhile perusing the “Categories section and in particular click, on the case “Eliana Construction and Developing Group Pty. Ltd” “ for a sobering reminder of what all organisations need to be doing acceptably well. Compare your efforts to their example.