Workplace Health and Safety News

A stonemasonry business has become the first company convicted under the Victorian workplace manslaughter laws. This followed the tragic death of a worker who was fatally crushed by a forklift that tipped over and landed on him while being operated with a raised load on a sloping driveway.

A construction company has been convicted and fined after a carpenter fell through plywood flooring at their construction worksite whilst working on a mezzanine level (an intermediate floor between levels of a building) marking out formwork.

A transport and logistics company has been convicted and fined for repeatedly failing to address the risk at one of their workplaces for the potential of someone being struck or crushed by a forklift and with multiple instances of forklifts operating too close to pedestrians.

During tower crane lifting operations, a building construction site worker fell almost three meters whilst assisting moving materials on the sixth level for the building of concrete superstructure, sustaining a concussion, sprained ankle and vertigo, leaving the worker with ongoing health battles.

A camper sustained fatal head injuries when a tree branch fell on them whilst inside their tent on a designated camping site, causing the person to lose their life. Described by the regulator as a terrible incident, it highlights workplace duty holders’ irresponsible behaviour of not proactively prioritising safety.

A dive company recently had an exploding scuba cylinder during a standard compressed air filling procedure that severely injured an instructor by severing their left leg below the knee whilst sustaining further severe injuries to their right foot, both requiring emergency surgery.

According to WorkSafe Victoria’s recent news, WorkSafe has launched a statewide program of inspections in the waste and recycling transport industry, aimed at driving down workplace deaths and injuries.

Cattle yard workplaces need to be made safe during operational activities and tasks, such as ear tagging and pregnancy testing using separation controls. Cattle crushes should ideally be designed in a way that the head bail operates from behind the animal and stops animals from entering designated workspaces for humans, minimising risks to workers from being injured.

A child patron supervision, advisement on the safety rules and instructional safety briefings on how to use the activities equipment to perform high-risk tasks and the accompaniment of children by a parent or guardian are steps that duty holders should take prior to customers entering a climbing area to manage the inherent risks involved in indoor adventure activities.

According to the Safe Work Australia’s report, it found that 76% of work-related traumatic injuries fatalities and 61% of serious workers compensation claims occurred in agriculture, forestry and fishing, public administration and safety, transport, postal and warehousing, manufacturing, health care and social assistance and construction.

In a recent news, WorkSafe Victoria continues to see an alarming number of issues causing significant consequences at indoor play centres, particularly relating to the maintenance, training and supervision around climbing safety devices. This concern was raised when an indoor play centre was convicted and fined after an eight-year-old girl suffered significant trauma.

A winery and gin distiller has been fined after a horrific incident was caused by a preventable explosion and fireball that set the venue’s floor alight. Several workers and public customers were injured during a “distillers for a day” experience when a 330-litre distillery copper pot exploded from the ignition of ethanol vapours.

Tragically, there has been six work-related deaths this year in the agriculture sector. WorkSafe Victoria indicated that farming businesses with good safety cultures must be achieved by prioritising a safety-first approach when considering the operational activities and tasks for the jobs to be done, assessing risk for best safety practices.

A labour hire worker’s hand was amputated in a concrete mixer pump during the cleaning of residue. Although the mixer had a fitted guarding, it had been removed as part of the cleaning process, without interlocks being installed, causing the worker’s hand to become entangled in the mixing hopper.

According to WorkSafe Victoria, a built-in heavy machinery safety mechanism for a 60-tonne crane’s safety system was disabled by a bulldog clip attached to an override switch on the cranes safety system, which could not alert the operator that the load went outside the crane’s safety limits, allowing the crane to be still operated outside its prescribed parameters.

In Victoria, an average of one worker every week is seriously injured in incidents involving forklifts. These incidents are often the result of a lack of systems that physically separate forklifts from pedestrian walkways, exclusion zones and proper control measures like traffic management plans in areas where powered mobile plant, such as forklifts, operate.

Falls from height remain a leading cause of death and serious injury in Victorian workplaces. Therefore, fall prevention devices are required to be in good working order with a proper inspection and maintenance regimes implemented, with faults repaired competently and/or the guardrails replaced in accordance with Australian Standards.