Safety and related business will be back on the federal parliamentary agenda when Federal Parliament resumes on February 2.

As reported at the end of last year, the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (Transition to Fair Work) Bill 2009, which enables the replacement of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC), is still before Federal Parliament.

The Federal Government was aiming for the bill to pass last year and for ABCC’s replacement, the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate, to be established on February 1.

However, this is yet to happen and as such the ABCC remains operational.

Also reported at the end of last year, the Occupational Health and Safety and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 is currently before a Senate Committee that reports at the end of February.

Among a range of changes, the bill seeks to amend the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 that applies to Commonwealth workplaces.

Under changes to the Act, Comcare can reinstate claims arising from injuries that have occurred offsite during work breaks.

The Federal Government is also due to reintroduce the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation in February – but it is doubtful that it will succeed at this time.

However, before the legislation is re-introduced, Australia, as a party to the Copenhagen Accord, will need to submit its 2020 emissions targets – which are due by January 31.

Meanwhile, late last year the Federal Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard, along with most of the other members of the Workplace Relations Ministers Council (WRMC), endorsed the model WHS Act.

However, as reported late last year, the WRMC has agreed that Safe Work Australia (SWA) and the Parliamentary Counsel's Committee (PCC) be given more time to make technical and drafting refinements to enhance the model Act’s legal effectiveness and workability. SWA will make the refinements by March 30.

With the model Act almost finalised, attention is now turning to model WHS regulations, which are due to be ready for public comment in late 2010.

For more details, visit Federal Parliament and Safe Work Australia

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) wants to take over the administration of offshore well integrity and safety regulations in the wake of last year’s Montara oil and gas leak.

Currently, NOPSA is responsible for the OHS of people at offshore petroleum facilities, not the integrity of wells.

As previously reported, the West Atlas mobile offshore drilling unit was operating at the Montara wellhead platform in the Timor Sea west off Darwin when an uncontrolled leak started in an adjacent well.

A second drilling unit had to be towed to the site to stem the flow of oil and gas. This took a number of weeks and raised environmental concerns.

NOPSA’s recent submission to the Montara Commission of Inquiry into the oil and gas leak said the leak occurred because of a well integrity failure and recommended that NOPSA take over the administration of well safety and integrity regulations from the States and Northern Territory.

NOPSA is also conducting a separate investigation into the Montara incident to determine if the operators of the Montara wellhead platform and the West Atlas drilling unit have breached OHS laws. The investigation is ongoing.

For more details, visit NOPSA

John Holland Pty Ltd has been prosecuted and fined $180,000 following the death of an employee at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in Queensland.

Mark McCallum was working on a jetty construction when his foot became trapped under wooden scaffolding planks and he was run over and killed by a jinker carrying a precast concrete deck in May 2008.

Comcare investigated the incident and launched a prosecution in the Federal Court.

In December last year, the Court found John Holland had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety of McCallum, and this resulted in his death.

‘It is clear that, despite the efforts taken by the respondent to implement a safe working environment, the operation involving the transportation unit was flawed in its original conception,’ Federal Court Justice Berna Collier said.

‘The dangers were obvious from the start, relatively simple to avoid, but unrecognised and unaddressed in a manner which raises the objective gravity of the offence in these proceedings towards the higher end of the scale.’

In determining the $180,000 fine, Justice Collier took into account the seriousness of the offence and mitigating circumstances, including John Holland’s early admission of liability, the assistance it provided McCallum’s family, other employees and Comcare, and the extensive changes it had made to its work system since the incident.

John Holland was also ordered to pay Comcare’s legal costs.

For more details, visit Comcare

Hours of work and other new work standards started on January 1.

The new National Employment Standards (NES) cover 10 minimum work provisions and form part of the Fair Work Act 2009.

Under the NES, maximum weekly hours of work are set at 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.

Parents or carers of children under school age or children under 18 with a disability can request flexible working arrangements to assist with their children’s care.

Parental leave, annual leave, personal and carers leave, compassionate leave, community services leave, long service leave, public holidays, notice of termination, redundancy pay and the provision of a fair work information statement are also covered in the NES.

For more detail visit Fair Work Australia

Recent research has found that men are more likely than women to be seriously injured in road incidents.

Twice as many men than women were seriously injured in on-road crashes and five times more men than women were seriously injured in off-road crashes, said research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The research, 'Serious injury due to land transport accidents, Australia 2006-07'’, also reported that 50 per cent of the men seriously injured in land transport incidents were less than 30 years of age.

The rate of serious injury was greater among men due to men having much higher serious injury rates as motorcyclists and pedal cyclists and higher rates as car drivers (except in the 45 to 69 age group).

'For males, the four most frequently injured road user types were, in order, motorcyclists, car drivers, pedal cyclists and car passengers,' the research said.

For more details, visit AIHW

Trauma care, obstetrics and preventing the spread communicable diseases remain health priorities for Haitians following the recent earthquake.

Treating wounds and injuries continued to be a priority said the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Obstetric and follow up care was also essential as 70,000 babies were born each year in Haiti, WHO said.

Tetanus and other communicable diseases also pose a risk to Haitians. 'Tetanus, which has a case-fatality rate of 70 to 100 per cent without medical treatment, is a potential risk with open wounds and contamination,' WHO said.

For more details, visit WHO

Marks and Spencer plc has pleaded not guilty for failing to ensure that staff and the public were not exposed to asbestos risks.

Marks and Spencer plc and three other companies are being prosecuted in the Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court for alleged asbestos related breaches that occurred during the refurbishment of Marks and Spencer’s shops in Reading, Bournemouth and Plymouth.

Marks and Spencer pleaded not guilty to three allegations concerning the exposure of its staff to asbestos and three allegations relating to the exposure of the public and other workers at their three shops.

Styles and Wood Ltd of Cheshire pleaded guilty to asbestos related allegations relating to Marks and Spencer's Reading store.

Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd of Hertfordshire entered no plea to asbestos related allegations concerning Marks and Spencer’s Bournemouth store.

PA Realisations Ltd (formally Pectel Ltd) of Manchester also faces asbestos related allegations concerning Marks and Spencer’s Reading store.

The parties will return to Bournemouth Magistrates' Court for a committal hearing on February 9.

For more details, visit the HSE

The US OHS administration is seeking help from the public to improve its effectiveness in the wake of negative reports about its processes and oversight capacity.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking responses from stakeholders to a range of OHS questions that will be posed at a public meeting.

Some of the questions concern how to improve OSHA’s efforts in engaging stakeholders in programs and initiatives, providing compliance assistance to small businesses, and giving a greater voice to workers, particularly workers who are afraid to exercise their rights.

The public meeting comes in the wake of a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluation of OSHA’s records audit process that found a number of deficits.

Among the deficits, GAO said OSHA did not routinely interview workers as part of its audits.

The meeting also follows federal OSHA’s own evaluation of its Nevada state office, which highlighted a lack of federal oversight.

The public meeting will be held on February 10 in Washington, DC. OSHA is also accepting written submissions.

For more details, visit OSHA

Parties to the Copenhagen Accord must submit their emissions targets and mitigation initiatives for inclusion in the Accord by January 31.

Developed nations must submit 2020 emission reduction targets, while developing nations must submit mitigation actions.

Under the Accord, developed nations’ emission reduction efforts will be measured, reported and verified against existing and any other guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties.

Developing nations’ mitigation actions will be subject to domestic measures and reported via national communications every two years under guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties.

With regard to developing nations, there will be 'provisions for international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines that will ensure that national sovereignty is respected', the Accord said.

Initiatives in developing nations that require international support will be subject to international measurement, reporting and verification in accordance with guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties.

For more details, visit the Accord

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As Australia’s leading provider of OHS training services, the National Safety Council of Australia is pleased to announce their latest course, the Diploma of Environmental Sustainability (30584QLD).

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