SAFETY OF TRAINEES AND APPRENTICES
A South Australian group training organisation was charged and fined for not consulting all duty holders regarding the safety of one of its apprentices.
A recent conviction in the Industrial Court resulting in a $14,000 fine to Trainee and Apprentice Placement Service Inc. (TAPS), should remind all group training organisations that they have a shared work health and safety duty with host employers.
On 15 January 2014, apprentice Jack Reynolds was working on guttering under the guidance of Joseph Argent trading as Shear Edge Roofing, a host employer for the group training organisation. Mr Reynolds sustained multiple injuries when the gutter he was working on came into contact with high voltage wires.
Following an investigation by SafeWork SA, Trainee and Apprentice Placement Service Inc. (TAPS) was charged with offences under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA), for failing to consult with all duty holders.
With a possible $100 000 maximum penalty for a body corporate, the magistrate settled on an initial fine of $20 000 reduced to $14 000 plus court costs in recognition of TAPS early guilty plea.
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For more information about supervision of apprentices and trainees and other obligations please click here
WORKSAFE VICTORIA AWARDS – HURRY! ENTRIES CLOSE 30 JUNE!
The 2016 WorkSafe Victoria Awards are now open for entries.
A new category is being launched this year: Best solution to a manual handling issue
Manual handling is Victoria’s most common cause of workplace injury, accounting for almost 40 per cent of all injuries reported to WorkSafe. Last year alone, more than 10,000 Victorian workers suffered injuries caused by poor or awkward manual handling.
Organisations that have created new ways to prevent injuries caused by manual handling are being encouraged to share their innovations by entering the 2016 WorkSafe Victoria Awards.
The prestigious awards, now in their 28th year, have nine categories:
Health and Safety
Health and safety representative of the year
Health and safety invention of the year
Best solution to a specific workplace health and safety issue
Best solution to a manual handling issue
OHS Achievement
Commitment to workplace health and wellbeing
Return to Work
Employer excellence in return to work
Return to Work Coordinator excellence
Worker return to work achievement
Entries close on 30 June. Winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony during WorkSafe Health and Safety Month in October.
To enter the awards, or for more details, visit
www.worksafeawards.com.au
MAKINEX CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS RECOGNISED BY SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA WITH AWARD FOR GOOD DESIGN
Makinex Construction Products, was the winner of the inaugural Safe Work Australia Award for Good Design.
Makinex Construction Products submitted their powered hand truck into the annual Good Design Awards, which promote the very best in design, innovation and creativity at a national and international level.
“Makinex Construction Products was found to excel in their approach to safe work design and was judged as best design across all categories for safety in construction, use and maintenance, safety innovation, sustainability and health and safety impact,” said Safe Work Australia Chief Executive Officer, Ms Michelle Baxter.
Source: Safe Work Australia website
More information is available here
LABOUR HIRE COMPANIES CANNOT DELEGATE THE DUTY OF CARE
On 27 April 2016, a South Australian labour-hire company was fined $240,000 for its breach of the State WHS Act, including in respect of its attempts to delegate the businesses’ safety duties to the host employer.
In the decision of Marie Boland v Big Mars Pty Ltd, Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke found that the labour hire-company, Big Mars Pty Ltd, had ‘failed miserably to carry out any of its fundamental safety responsibilities’ after 21 year old migrant worker Mr Hsiao suffered serious burns to the bottom half of his body when he slipped into a bath of caustic soda while working at the host employer’s abattoir. Among other failings, Big Mars had failed to:
- implement any adequate system of hazard identification or risk assessment specific to the host employer’s premise;
- check or audit that the host employer provided and maintained written safe operating procedures for the use of relevant equipment, and that such procedures were provided to Mr Hsaio;
- ensure that the work instructions provided to Ms Hsiao were translated into a form he could understand (Ms Hsiao had difficulty reading documents in English); and/or
- assess the adequacy or otherwise of any training provided to Hsaio by the host employer, nor provide any information, instruction or training to Hsiao itself in respect of those tasks he was being retained by the host employer to perform.
In a different case, a Queensland labour hire company has been fined $150,000 after a man's head was crushed while working on a road project in Adelaide.
The South Australian Industrial Court has found Fix Force Ltd breached health and safety laws for failing to ensure its employee was safe from risk and injury while working on the South Road Superway in 2012.
Clinton Benson suffered life-threatening injuries when his head was crushed between a lifting arm and a welding table.
In his judgment, Industrial Magistrate Stephen Lieschke ruled that it was the responsibility of the labour hire company to ensure that risk assessments were completed at the Adelaide site.
For more on both cases please visit:
Media Release - Industrial Court imposes highest penalty against single entity to date
Media Release - Industrial Court imposes hefty fine on another labour hire company
Article - Labour Hire Arrangements and Work Health & Safety: The Non-Delegable Duty
EMPLOYER FINED FOR BULLYING APPRENTICE
A Geelong builder who repeatedly bullied his teenage apprentice over a two-year period was convicted and fined $12,500 in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court.
Wayne Allan Dennert, of Bell Post Hill, pleaded guilty to one rolled-up charge under the 2004 OHS Act of failing to provide a safe system of work and the necessary information, instruction, training and supervision to employees in relation to workplace bullying. He was also ordered to pay costs of $757.71.
Dennert ran a small carpentry business called Quality Carpentry and Building Maintenance, which employed two apprentice carpenters and two subcontractors.
The victim began working for Dennert in 2013 as a 16-year-old. Until he left in April, 2015, he suffered incidents of verbal, physical and psychological bullying and harassment.
The court heard that during that period Dennert not only encouraged employees to participate in bullying behaviour against the teenager, but actively participated. The list of physical incidents is extensive but according to the victim it was the emotional trauma that was the hardest to bear.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the apprentice said that he continues to suffer from anxiety, depression, nightmares and insomnia caused by the bullying.
WorkSafe’s Executive Director of Health and Safety, Marnie Williams, said Dennert’s behaviour had been appalling.
For more information please click here
BULLY ZERO AUSTRALIA FOUNDATION AND BRODIE’S LAW FOUNDATION EDUCATING YOUNG WORKERS
Two organisations devoted to educating young people and employers about the trauma caused by bullying have been given a significant boost, thanks to a new partnership with WorkSafe Victoria.
Bully Zero Australia Foundation and Brodie’s Law Foundation will each deliver a range of education and training sessions to young workers aged 16 to 24 and their employers across Victoria.
The sessions will aim to improve awareness of bullying in the workplace, its devastating impact, how it can be prevented, and how it can be dealt with.
WorkSafe’s Executive Director of Health and Safety, Marnie Williams, said she was delighted that both organisations had agreed to partner WorkSafe in the fight to eradicate bullying from the workplace.
“Bullying is a significant issue in Victorian workplaces,” Ms Williams said. “Of more than 26,000 injury claims in Victoria last year, 3087 were mental injury claims. And, of these, almost 1300 mention bullying behaviour as a cause.”
For more information please click here
AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Australian standards, which govern everything from the handling of food to safety regulations in the home building industry, will no longer be available in public libraries after a breakdown in publishing negotiations.
Children's toys, playgrounds, car tyres, manufacturing, electrical work and building design are just some of the consumer products and industries guided by principles developed by Standards Australia, the nation's peak non-government, not-for-profit standards organisation.
There are more than 9000 standards which govern the most everyday industries and products in Australia. Until recently everyone had free access to Australian standards in hard copy and online, through national and state libraries around Australia.
However that access has now been limited after negotiations broke down between National and State Libraries Australasia and SAI Global, the commercial publishing outlet which holds exclusive rights to the sale, marketing and distribution of Australian standards.
"We have been negotiating for many months with SAI Global. The various state libraries have licenses expiring in the first half of this year and we have finally given up," said Dr Alex Byrne, chair of NSLA and NSW state librarian and chief executive.
Dr Byrne said he could not see why access to standards, "which govern just about anything you can think of", should be any different to that of legislation, which is freely accessible to the public online.
Dr Byrne said the NSLA would like to see Australia follow New Zealand, who earlier this year took the distribution of standards back into government and committed to maintaining public access.
"Increasingly legislation refers to standards, rather than spelling out legal requirements. All that says the community needs to have access to standards."
The publishing agreement with SAI Global ends in 2018, with an option to renew for a further five year term; however, Dr Byrne said the NSLA was attempting to negotiate an alternative publishing arrangement with Standards Australia.
The full article is available here
AUSTRALIAN WHS STATISTICS
There have been 63 workplace fatalities reported by 31 May, compared to 73 at the same time last year.
The industries with the highest number of fatalities are:
Agriculture, forestry & fishing – 19
Transport, postal & warehousing – 18
Construction – 7
More at Safe Work Australia
PROFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT AVAILBLE FOR GTO STAFF IN VICTORIA
AEN is offering the Certificate IV in WHS as Professional Development to GTO staff. The training will be provided by the Holmesglen Institute as a combination of targeted workshops, on the job delivery and project based learning followed by one-on-one support through coaching and mentoring.
The course is available to staff who need to upgrade from the old BSB41407 Cert IV in OHS or to staff who need to do the entire qualification. (Holmesglen have a number of places for our staff that are fully VTG exempt so you will only need to pay the “enrolment fees” which is a very generous offer from Holmesglen).
The proposed dates for the face-to-face training are:
Full Qualification
18 – 20 July; a block of 3 full days covering 4 units
23 – 24 August; a block of 2 full days covering 2 units
Upgrade from BSB41407 Cert IV in OHS
19 – 20 July; a block of 2 full days covering 2 units
23 August; a full day covering 1 unit
The rest of the training and assessment for both options will be completed at each individual’s workplace and on-line.
Course fees are: Full Qualification - $900 + GST
Upgrade - $400 + GST
Expressions of interest close: 24 June 2016
For more information please follow the links to the relevant flyer.
Full qualification
Upgrade
SafetyFirst - Ahead of the Action
 Your own branded learning management system not only benefits your apprentices and trainees, it also benefits you as a business. You need not worry about putting your resources out of play for a day or two just to conduct the program. With SafetyFirst's online safety induction training, you'll enjoy benefits such as:
- Assist in meeting compliance - designed as tools to assist managers and supervisors to meet their Work Health and Safety obligations
- Do it anytime - The training course is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- Interactive and engaging - easy to use by various learners, entertaining content for a more enjoyable learning experience
- Cost-effectiveness
- Consistency - ability to maintain a particular standard with staff WHS training
- Results – immediate results and feedback that identify further training needs
SafetyFirst can assist you in creating a safe work environment for all your new employees, apprentices and trainees.
A free trial of the material can be found here - demo.safetyfirst.org.au
Learn more about SafetyFirst
 SafetyFirst is an initiative of the Group Training Association of Victoria. Visit our site to keep up to date with the latest Health and Safety news Australia wide. SafetyFirst.org.au
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