tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56991126807780610422024-08-29T08:51:47.123+10:00Occupational Heath and Safety is not just my business, but everyones business. Safety For Life will share weekly updates regarding current OHS issues and what you can do to minimise risk at work. I look forward to your comments.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-31042522152854685062011-06-15T13:01:00.001+10:002011-06-15T13:01:54.115+10:00

Tuesday 14 June, 2011 In Queensland, employers will no longer have to appoint a workplace health and safety officer (WHSO) under the state's model OHS laws.However, while the current legislative requirement for employers to appoint WHSOs will cease in Queensland from 1 January 2012, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) expects that many businesses will voluntarily keep their WHSO to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-58305665458261757882011-02-24T20:03:00.001+10:002011-02-24T20:04:27.339+10:00

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is investigating a serious incident that occurred on Thursday 17 February 2011 in a restaurant on the Gold Coast. Two workers suffered serious caustic burn injuries after pouring drain cleaner into a floor grate to clear a blockage in the kitchen drainage system. It is believed that a violent reaction took place causing the contents of the drain to explode

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-43594369009516317022011-02-09T15:10:00.000+10:002011-02-09T15:10:54.553+10:00

What the papers said

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-66965033534364249602011-02-09T15:09:00.000+10:002011-02-09T15:09:08.270+10:00

February 7, 2011 The Victorian Transport Association (VTA) says debate on the link between safety and pay is over, but wants more information on how safe rates will affect the trucking industry. Following a workshop of more than 40 VTA members last month, the group has responded to the Federal Government’s Safe Rates / Safe Roads discussion paper. The Government is planning to reform

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-41217720893855751062011-01-28T22:17:00.000+10:002011-01-28T22:17:37.153+10:00

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has released a comprehensive guide to complying with OHS laws during the flood clean-up phase. The guide includes steps for planning safe work and information on working at height, demolition, quad-bike and machinery use and work with asbestos-containing materials. It also includes advice on fatigue management, biological hazards and displaced fauna,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-56023514315162589692011-01-28T22:15:00.000+10:002011-01-28T22:15:08.545+10:00

Patrick Stevedoring has been fined $180,000 for discriminating against a worker who raised a health and safety issue, but the employer insists it has significantly improved its systems since the incident and supports "all safety improvement endeavours". As reported by OHS Alert last week, Victorian Magistrate Rosemary Carlin found a Patrick unit manager at a Geelong wharf suspended and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-35613106440924820302010-12-04T10:55:00.000+10:002010-12-04T10:55:27.543+10:00

AUSTRALIA'S meat and poultry industry is under review after a worker was decapitated while cleaning a fast moving machine at a Melbourne factory, ABC News reports. In August this year, Sarel Singh, 34, was killed instantly when he was sucked into a machine and decapitated while working at a Baiada poultry processing plant in Melbourne's west. A preliminary report on the workplace death,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-1665908503902453892010-12-04T10:48:00.000+10:002010-12-04T10:48:40.839+10:00

IT is probably not the advice that anyone who has dealt with a workplace bully wants to hear.  But conflict resolution expert Gavan Podbury says that people who call themselves bullying victims are "losers" who need to learn how to resolve their own disputes.  Mr Podbury, a social Researcher and presenter, has conducted seminars around Australia teaching individuals and corporations

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-30794757539125336692010-12-03T08:25:00.001+10:002010-12-03T08:25:00.334+10:00

Thousands of cheering workers greeted Ark Tribe as he left the Adelaide Magistrates Court last Wednesday. Magistrate David Whittle had just announced his verdict – “not guilty” of the charges brought by the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The scaffolder had endured 18 months of uncertainty and 11 court appearances. Six months jail had hung over his head as he became a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-82298269583217317712010-12-03T08:15:00.000+10:002010-12-03T08:15:00.382+10:00

Investment continues in major new aluminium production plants, while a new process could reduce the industry's huge energy bills. Sean Ottewell reports. The Ma'aden-Alcoa joint venture has selected Wagstaff to supply the joint venture's vertical direct chill casting complex with t-ingot, rolling ingot, and extrusion billet casting equipment. The contract includes capital equipment and technology

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-50130575584909237482010-12-03T08:10:00.000+10:002010-12-03T08:10:00.509+10:00

A royal commission of inquiry into the Pike River disaster will look at the causes of the explosion and the initial response by rescuers. Prime Minister John Key said yesterday the inquiry would be a royal commission, instead of the initially proposed commission of inquiry. Although commissions of inquiry are usually used for disasters, Mr Key said on the Q&A television show he decided on a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-82688688531535648392010-12-03T08:01:00.000+10:002010-12-03T08:01:00.133+10:00

WorkSafe Victoria has slammed a high-risk-industry employer - which has been fined over a workplace fatality - for failing to provide employees with the "highest possible" safety standards. Also in this article, a bad week for Victorian workplaces has gotten worse with three deaths. Forestry employer Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Australia Pty Ltd (now part of BSG Holdings Pty Ltd) was on

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-7742663382649464282010-12-03T08:00:00.000+10:002010-12-03T08:00:04.405+10:00

Consultations on the model work health and safety laws have entered their second phase with the Chair of Safe Work Australia, Tom Phillips inviting public comment. The draft model Work Health and Safety Regulations and priority model Codes of Practice aim to achieve the best possible approach to health and safety for all Australian workplaces and will be released next month for comment. Safe

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-72475771141478743062010-12-03T07:59:00.001+10:002010-12-03T07:59:00.504+10:00

Safe Work Australia has confirmed that the draft model Work Health and Safety Regulations and priority model Codes of Practice will be released for comment in December. The public consultation period will last for four months, before a final "Regulations package" is handed to the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council for approval, most likely in June 2011. Drafting the Regulations has

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-58110364279284828212010-12-02T20:10:00.000+10:002010-12-02T20:10:00.543+10:00

A REPORT by the coroner and workplace safety officials has recommended no charges be laid following the death of Ipswich resident Christopher Fenton in a workplace incident last year. Mr Fenton, 18, was crushed to death by the forklift he was operating on October 5 last year during a shift at Foodpartners, the meat-processing department at JBS Swift abattoir at Dinmore. He had worked there for

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-15148795678104001042010-12-02T19:59:00.000+10:002010-12-02T19:59:11.081+10:00

A Western Australian employer that invests heavily in training and retaining employees and subcontractors - even when work is scarce - has slashed its injury frequency rate by 81 per cent. Several years ago, Park Engineers founder Giulio Azzalini and his son Gary realised their health and safety system "wasn't up to scratch", and spared no expense updating it, the company's workshop and HSE

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-2931148046643893842010-12-02T19:56:00.000+10:002010-12-02T19:56:37.499+10:00

OHS professionals must be "tuned in" to their employer's goals - and refrain from badgering executives with minutiae - if they're to have any hope of developing a successful workplace safety culture, says a safety manager of 32 years' experience. Stan Sexton, who is the Western Australian Public Transport Authority's (PTA's) corporate manager safety, told OHS Alert that while many OHS

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-57351094420646588182010-12-02T19:52:00.000+10:002010-12-02T19:52:30.624+10:00

NSW Business Chamber boss Greg Pattison has rejected claims that union-led prosecutions have contributed to the State's improving workplace safety performance, and says employers are desperate for some certainty around harmonisation. Pattison told the Safety Conference in Sydney yesterday that it was apparent - when he participated in a debate on the model OHS Act at the same conference a year

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-52415209318316907602010-12-02T18:02:00.001+10:002010-12-02T19:16:59.935+10:00

The forest industry has conducted its own protest in response to action by anti-logging campaigners on the New South Wales far south coast Around 15 industry representatives campaigned at Bega yesterday while activists were appearing in court in connection with a series of blockades in the Mumbulla State Forest earlier this year. The CEO of Timber Communities Australia, Jim Adams, says workers

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-4158606277042494882010-11-04T13:39:00.000+10:002010-11-04T13:39:04.238+10:00

Tuesday 26 October, 2010 With the NSW Government indicating that it will not support the existing model Work Health and Safety Act, OHS harmonisation in its current form “is dead in the water”, according to OHS legal expert Michael Tooma. NSW Premier Kristina Keneally recently said she would only support a national OHS regime if it allowed unions to retain the right to prosecute employers for

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-46378434202885010752010-10-27T09:53:00.000+10:002010-10-27T09:53:58.584+10:00

Tuesday, 26 October 2010 1:25pm The UK could be on the brink of shedding some of the heavy obligations applied to low-hazard workplaces, in an attempt to free employers from "unnecessary bureaucratic burdens" associated with safety obligations. The Prime Minister's health and safety advisor, Lord Young of Graffham, who has drafted a series of "common-sense" safety recommendations, says the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-49801914716346744842010-10-19T08:39:00.000+10:002010-10-19T08:39:35.714+10:00

Thursday, 14 October 2010 11:05am The harmonisation of OHS laws could be dead in the water, with NSW on the verge of withdrawing from the process. In an astonishing move, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has told Prime Minister Julia Gillard that NSW would only implement the proposed Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act if it could retain union-led prosecutions and reverse onus of proof laws.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-49748749244804079302010-10-19T08:38:00.000+10:002010-10-19T08:38:01.806+10:00

On 21 September 2010, Radio Australia’s regular program Australia Talks conducted a live interview concerning occupational safety and health. For those who have been listening to the show for some time would have been surprised that the program covered much of the same old OHS ground. Similar statistics, similar questions of what are the most dangerous occupations, similar assumptions and the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-75871187595561291682010-10-19T08:35:00.000+10:002010-10-19T08:35:26.824+10:00

Carolyn Taylor says Australian businesses need to adjust their 'she'll be right' attitude (Flickr: Tony Eccles) Carolyn Taylor says many Australian companies have a dangerous "she'll be right" attitude and the problem areas of bullying and sexual harassment are accidents waiting to happen. "I see a little bit of a belief that we can control behaviour by policies instead of recognising that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5699112680778061042.post-31322700975652925932010-10-03T20:16:00.001+10:002010-10-03T20:17:05.488+10:00

NEW work safety rules apply for farmers and rural industries from this month, with the phasing out of legislated occupational health and safety exemptions for rural Queensland. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland executive director, Dr Simon Blackwood, said the phasing out program, which started in 1990, required all rural property workers to be aware of, and comply with, the Workplace Health

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0