Comcare’s court enforcement capabilities will be boosted, while the office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) remains as is under the 2010-11 Federal Budget.

The Federal Government has allocated $4.4 million over five years to improve Comcare’s court enforcement action under the Commonwealth Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991.

The Budget also notes the moratorium on applications for self-insurance under the Comcare scheme will remains in place.

With legislation still before Federal Parliament, the abolition of the ABCC and the creation of the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate looks set to remain on the back burner with the ABCC continuing to operate under the 2010-11 Budget.

The Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (Transition to Fair Work) Bill 2009, which, among a range of changes, abolishes the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner and creates the Office of the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate remains before the Senate.

The federal Government had hoped the new inspectorate would have been up and running earlier this year.

The Budget notes that one of the ‘challenges’ that will impact on the ABCC’s outcomes during 2010-11 is maintaining ‘the momentum of reform during a transition period to new regulatory arrangements’.

On the climate front, among a range of changes, $6 million has been allocated to the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator to implement enhancements to the Renewable Energy Target from January 1, 2011.

For more details, visit Budget 2010-11

An employee who was sacked for an off-duty drink-driving offence has failed in his appeal to be reinstated.

Nick Kolodjashnij was sacked from his job at the James Boag Brewery in Launceston after he told his employer he had been charged with drink driving in March last year.

Kolodjashnij subsequently filed an unfair dismissal claim. However, Commissioner Deegan of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) concluded that Kolodjashnij’s termination wasn’t unfair.

Kolodjashnij appealed the decision in Fair Work Australia (FWA). He argued that the Commissioner had erred in her original decision because she failed to consider the termination of his employment was a disproportionate response to the circumstances.

FWA disagreed and dismissed Kolodjashnij’s appeal last week, saying the Commissioner had considered the ‘proportionality’ of the circumstances.

For more details, visit FWA

Charges have been laid against a Queensland company director and manager following the death of a ceiling insulation installer last year.

A 25-year-old man was electrocuted and an 18-year-old woman sustained severe electrical burns to her left leg while they were installing foil insulation under the Federal Government’s now defunct ceiling insulation program in October last year.

The man and woman were working in the ceiling of a home at Meadowbrook, south of Brisbane, for QHI Installations Pty Ltd when the incident happened.

The Queensland Electrical Safety Office and Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Queensland investigated the incident.

QHI Installations company director, Christopher William McKay, and company manager, Christopher John McKay, have been charged with allegedly failing to ensure the company complied with its obligations under the Queensland Electrical Safety Act.

QHI Installations has been charged under the Electrical safety Act for allegedly failing to conduct its business or undertaking in a way that was electrically safe.

For more details, visit Dept of Justice Queensland

A construction company and two company directors have been convicted and fined after their failure to seek expert advice, which led to the death of an employee.

Permanent Erection Constructions Pty Ltd (PEC) was constructing the first floor above a shop in Apollo Bay when the partially constructed floor collapsed in 2006.

The floor had been overloaded with 10 tonnes of floor panels and no expert advice had been sought about the floor’s load bearing capabilities.

PEC carpenter Peter Miller fell to the ground floor and was crushed to death under falling blocks and panels in the incident.

PEC was found guilty in the Geelong County Court for breaching the Victorian OHS Act and convicted and fined $350,000.

Company directors Andrew Leorke and David Spedding were convicted and fined $60,000 each.

‘PEC and its directors were previously fined in 2008 when they continued construction work after Mr Miller’s death, despite WorkSafe issuing a notice prohibiting them from accessing the construction site,’ a WorkSafe Victoria statement said. ‘They were also fined when a wall collapsed on their construction site in 2006.’

‘The people responsible for this workplace should have known the risks of loading heavy materials onto a floor under construction,’ WorkSafe Victoria’s Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Stan Krpan said in a statement.

‘Nobody thought to consult an engineer to determine how much weight the floor could bear before beginning work load the partially constructed floor with floor panels and blocks.’

For more details, visit WorkSafe Victoria

A US Government investigation is underway and hazardous cleanup work continues in response to the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last month.

There were 126 people on the Transocean drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico when it exploded in late April.

Eleven people are missing presumed dead, 17 were injured, three of them critically.

The Horizon rig unit was drilling on behalf of BP at Mississippi Canyon (MC) Block 252 about 82 kilometres south-east of Venice, Louisiana, when the explosion occurred. BP has a 65 per cent interest in MC252.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) and Minerals Management Service (MMS) are co-chairing the investigation into the explosion, and are conducting public hearings on May 11 and 12.

Meanwhile, workers cleaning up after the explosion face a number of severe risks, including oil by products, dispersants, detergents, degreasers, drowning, heat, insects, snakes and other wild species native to the affected areas.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Assistant Secretary David Michaels said: ‘OSHA will monitor training, observe clean-up efforts and provide whatever assistance is needed to BP and its contractors.’

In another incident involving BP, 15 people died and 170 were injured in an explosion at the BP Texas City refinery in Texas in 2005.

In October last year, OSHA alleged BP had failed to abide by the Texas City explosion settlement agreement and proposed more than US$87 million in fines. BP is contesting the allegation.

For more details, visit US investigation, OSHA, BP and Transocean

New guidance to help employers meet their looming domestic violence obligations under revised Ontario OHS laws was released last week.

The workplace violence tool kit and guide will assist employers in complying with new domestic violence in the workplace and other workplace violence laws that start on June 15 under the amended Ontario OHS Act.

Under the new laws, employers must assess the risks of workplace violence, and take reasonable precautions to protect workers from possible domestic violence in the workplace; allow workers to remove themselves from harmful situations if they have reason to believe that they are at risk of imminent danger due to workplace violence; and develop and communicate workplace violence and harassment prevention policies and programs to workers.

The new guidance will help employers develop the necessary policies and programs, including safety plans for domestic violence in the workplace.

It also helps employers in assessing and controlling risks including cash handling, dealing with potentially violent clients, working alone, working in high-crime areas, protecting valuable goods and transporting people or goods.

For more details, visit the Ontario Government

The worldwide ‘Save lives: clean your hands’ campaign for health-care workers released a new global self-assessment framework last week.

The clean hands campaign, an initiative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), is in its second year and aims to improve healthcare workers’ hand hygiene.

The ‘Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework'’ assesses the progress of hand hygiene practices in healthcare facilities; facilitates the development of hand hygiene action plans; and promotes continual improvement.

'…people die or are considerably affected by diseases such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, and other severe infections acquired during patient care,' said Professor Didier Pittet, WHO's 'Clean Care is Safer Care' program leader, in a statement on the WHO website.

‘By cleaning their hands, healthcare workers can help prevent such diseases and contribute to reducing the global burden.’

Pittet said clean hands could also help stop the spread of swine flu.

For more details, visit WHO and Dr Pittet

Leadership engagement based on core values is the number one principle underlying potential OHS success, according to a recent global report.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) report, ‘Healthy workplaces: a global model for action’ said leadership engagement based on core values topped the list of six principles underlying potential OHS success.

Other principles included involving workers and their representatives, gap analysis, learning from others, sustainability and integration.

The WHO report said successful leadership engagement hinged on a number of factors, including gaining commitment from major stakeholders to ensure OHS was integrated into business goals and values; getting buy in from owners, senior managers, union leaders or informal leaders; and developing and adopting a comprehensive policy that was signed by the enterprise’s highest authority and communicated to all workers.

For more details, visit WHO

Queensland

Top

New South Wales / ACT

Top

Victoria

Top

South Australia

Top

Nominations now open to the 2010 NSCA / GIO National Safety Awards of Excellence

Top

Major
Sponsor

Melbourne Safety Connect – Book Now

Top

Topic: Environmental Sustainability

Presenter: Mr Neil Jaycock (Environmental Sustainability Specialist)

As the co-ordinator for the Emergency response Unit for the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Neil ensured the Authority met its responsibilities under the state’s disaster plans and Marine Pollution Contingency Plan.

Neil is an authority on environmental sustainability and has worked with many business and government organisations across a broad range of environmental risk management issues.

Having just coordinated a one week intensive subject on Engineering for Sustainable Solutions at Melbourne University, Neil will condense this learning to answer the difficult environmental questions.

Should you buy a carbon offset?

Is Zero Carbon Emission a feasible objective?

Why peak loads and smart meters will be part of our future.

How to be a good NABER & NGER.

Topic: Environmental Sustainability in Sport

Presenter: Mr Campbell Rose (CEO Western Bulldogs)

Campbell has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Bulldogs since 2003. He has a proud history as an America’s Cup and Olympic Yachtsman.

In his eight years at the Bulldogs, Campbell has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the finances and balance sheet of the Club as well as a marked improvement in both the Bulldogs team performances and the Clubs reputation. He has personally led the redevelopment of Whitten Oval to what it is today, a true environmentally sustainable community hub and icon of the Western Suburbs.

A successful manager, board member, and innovator Campbell has had to manage the environmental issues surrounding the property infrastructure projects of the Western Bulldogs.

Campbell will present his learning’s from his amazing turnaround of the Western Bulldogs with particular focus on the environmental and sustainability issues he has been required to address.

Training Room Hire

Top

OHS Consultant

Top

Occupational Health & Safety Consultant

Top

Lead Health & Safety Manager

Top

Put your career advert here

Top