Business leaders urged to be ‘human’ when faced with death or serious injury in the workplace
03 October, 2008 by Jamie Robinson*
Responding to death or serious injury in the workplace with a compassionate, ‘human’ approach is vital to minimising harm and protecting a company’s reputation and employee relations. There is a difference between being a compassionate employer and admitting liability.
$32K fine after worker struck by forklift
29 September, 2008
Pure Logistics Cold Chain was fined $32,000 recently for an incident in 2006 at its Regency Park warehouse where a worker's foot was crushed by a forklift.
Two injuries same machine - $40K fine
23 September, 2008
An Adelaide company that moulds carpet for the car industry was recently fined $40,000 after two workers were injured in near-identical circumstances by the same machine on two separate occasions.
Scrap metal industry safety program
22 September, 2008
Metropolitan and regional scrap metal businesses in Western Australia were visited by WorkSafe inspectors as part of a compliance campaign, with 64% of the workplaces visited found to have inadequately guarded machinery.
Failsafe manual reset thermostats
18 September, 2008
The KMF series of failsafe thermostats monitor temperatures in furnaces, ovens, kilns, boilers or any application where an overtemperature condition would result in a critical failure.
Hygro-thermometer
18 September, 2008
The Extech 407445 heavy-duty hygro-thermometer provides a dual display of relative humidity and temperature through a PC interface.
Safety system
18 September, 2008
The HIMax safety system is designed for maximum fault tolerance and minimal maintenance downtime. All maintenance, expansion and modification work of the system can always be performed online during process operation — without cutting back on safety. This includes the execution of proof test, a mandatory requirement of IEC/AS 61508/11.
Worker dies from electric shock
10 September, 2008
A linesman died recently, four days after receiving an electric shock at Croydon in Melbourne’s outer east.
Recent deaths highlight need for job safety action
04 September, 2008
New Zealand’s Department of Labour recently put out a call to businesses to take action to make their workplaces safer in order to curb the number of workplace fatalities.
Judge condemns company after second worker dies
29 August, 2008
A Victorian County Court Judge has told PaperlinX it had only a "reasonable chance of rehabilitation", after a series of safety failings at its Maryvale Mill in Gippsland led to the death of a worker in 2005.
OHS and workers compensation report released
27 August, 2008
The government has released the Comparative Performance Monitoring (CPM) report on Australia’s OHS and workers compensation outcomes for 2006–07.
Heads of workplace safety meet in Sydney
26 August, 2008
Australian and New Zealand Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) met in Sydney recently to discuss the progress of a range of initiatives to further OHS management across Australian workplaces.
Public comment sought on draft WA safeguarding code
25 August, 2008
The Commission for Occupational Safety and Health and its Mining Industry Advisory Committee are seeking public comment from interested parties on a draft Code of Practice: Safeguarding of machinery and plant.
Unguarded machine severs man's arm
22 August, 2008
A chilling incident in which a man's arm was removed at the shoulder in a machine this week has prompted a WorkSafe Victoria warning that guarding had to be a higher priority for business.
ACT revamps work safety law
21 August, 2008
The ACT government has moved to improve safety at work with the introduction of the Work Safety Bill 2008, replacing the current law which is almost 20 years old.