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Seven workplace deaths in Nova Scotia since the beginning of the year have prompted the provincial government to issue a warning about safety in the workplace.

Between 2007 and 2011, an average of 25 workers died on the job each year.

Marilyn More, the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education, said that given those numbers, so many deaths so early into this year is cause for concern.

“This is a tragic start to 2012 and all of us must take immediate action to avoid further injuries, illnesses and deaths in our workplaces,” More said in a statement.

“Whether one works on a hectic shop floor or a seemingly safe office, we need to change our ‘I’ve done this a million times so it must be safe’ mind-set.”

This year, two truckers died in separate motor vehicle accidents, two fishermen drowned while checking on lobster crates at low tide, a farm worker was killed by a falling tree and a man who was sandblasting was crushed underneath equipment he was cleaning.

All of the incidents are being investigated.

The seventh workplace death was of a shipyard worker who had a fatal heart attack on the job.

“We’ve seen seven fatalities and six of them have been acute deaths, so things like motor vehicle accidents, incidents at work with either falls or things falling on people,” said Jim LeBlanc, the executive director of Occupational Health and Safety for the Department of Labour and Advanced Education.

“We’re not seeing the typical type of activity that we see in workplaces.”

In recent years, almost half of all workplace deaths were caused by chronic illnesses, such as heart or lung disease. So far this year, only one workplace death resulted from a chronic illness.

“Employers and employees need to remain vigilant to the risks facing them at work,” said LeBlanc.

“In so many investigations, we find that most injuries could have been avoided if more consideration had been given to the task and how it was to be done.”

CBC News – Posted: Feb 14, 2012 11:04 AM AT

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BOONE—It’s hard to miss the safety vests and hard hats hanging in Dr. Timothy D. Ludwig’s faculty office. The brightly colored objects are mementos from his visits to gold mines and construction and manufacturing sites around the world.

The professor in Appalachian State University’s Wiley F. Smith Department of Psychology is known as the “Safety Doc” for his research and consulting work related to industrial and employee safety. He was recently listed as one of 101 leaders in the field of industrial/environmental health and safety in the widely read Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.

Ludwig’s research in recent years has focused on behavioral safety – how to change the safety culture within an organization by developing an environment in which employees and leaders value safety.

His expertise has taken him to Bogotá, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia and even the Arctic Circle to talk to company executives, employees or workshop participants about implementing safety culture change.

While almost everyone knows the potential outcome of unsafe behavior, such as failing to wear a hard hat or protective clothing, it’s the perceived inconvenience of safety practices, including being hot or uncomfortable, that often impedes following safety rules.

“The immediate consequence of being safe is that it often takes longer, is less comfortable or it is not supported by coworkers. So these immediate consequences lead the worker to choose the path that puts them at risk,” Ludwig said. “I preach don’t blame the worker. We need to solve the environmental problem that’s motivating workers to feel they have to be at risk.”

When employees begin to “own” safety in the workplace, changes in at-risk behavior occurs, Ludwig said. Especially when “you use peers as the motivators of safe behavior,” he said.

Examples of engaging employees rather than punishing them when safety practices aren’t followed include establishing programs in which employees create lists of risky behaviors and then observe their peers and provide positive feedback when safe practices are followed – a practice called behavior-based safety.

“You go from the negative consequence of having peers suggest shortcuts to safety to having the immediate consequence of having your peers watching you in a positive way and that changes the culture,” Ludwig said.

“When employees begin to have conversations about safety when managers aren’t around, and they are no longer talking about ways to take safety shortcuts, then you have changed the safety culture in the workplace,” he said. That change can lead to an environment in which workers proactively report hazards, close calls and minor injuries that might otherwise go unreported and uncorrected, he said.

Ludwig often uses stories, which he calls parables, to illustrate his points when addressing audiences about safety. His stories often relate to interactions with his sons when he tries to teach them about skateboarding or driving safety. He knows his lessons have worked when his sons turn the table on Ludwig if they see him failing to follow his own advice, such as wearing eye and hearing protection when mowing the yard.

Ludwig posts his safety lessons on his safety blog at www.safety-doc.com and writes quarterly for Industrial Safety and Hygiene News. He also publishes his empirical research in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, which he serves as editor.

Ludwig said that when workers and managers embrace a change in a company’s safety culture, the results can be dramatic. While implementing the change is typically a three-year process, companies tend to report a 70 to 80 percent decrease in incidents when the culture change is accepted.

Posted 9 February bu ASU News

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Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu says he makes no apologies for Victoria’s reluctance to sign up to national economic reforms, describing the process as slow and clumsy.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed to streamline regulations across the states, including occupational health and safety (OHS) and the licensing of trade workers.

But the COAG reform council says almost a quarter of the proposals are at risk of not meeting the end of year deadline.

That could jeopardise nearly $500 million in reward payments to the states.

Mr Baillieu says some of proposals would take Victoria backwards.

“The COAG process is slow, it’s clumsy and it’s been focused on the average and not the best practice,” he said.

“We’ve made that point consistently and we’ll continue to make it.”

Mr Baillieu says Victoria’s OHS laws are superior and he will not sign up to the proposed changes just to get a Commonwealth payment.

“It’s no longer a reward payment if we go backwards,” he said.

“To be paid to go backwards means that business and the economy in this state will suffer for the duration,” he said.

By Frances Bell – ABC News Posted Feb 3rd 2012

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CHANGES to OH&S laws mean local sporting groups, scouting groups and other community organisations will now have to abide by strict business-style workplace safety conditions.

While the Federal Government introduced the laws to protect volunteers, Mitchell Federal Liberal MP Alex Hawke said the opposite would occur.

He said the laws would disuade volunteers from joining organisations, and make it harder for organisations to manage their volunteer staff.

“The fact Labor would jeopardise such a fundamental cornerstone of Australian culture shows just how out of touch they are,” he said.

Under the changes, volunteers are now considered to be employees, liable to severe fines and prison sentences if laws are breached.

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Building contractors who fail to meet adequate standards need to be penalised.

The death of two workers at a construction site on the Dubai-Al Ain Road on Saturday underscores the need for the most stringent safety controls and regulations in the workplace. A scaffolding on the building collapsed, killing two while at least nine other workers were injured. The scaffolding collapse follows a similar incident the day before in Abu Dhabi.

The reality is that construction work comes with dangers. But building codes are meant to limit the dangers and ensure safe working practices for all at the building sites — making the construction environment as safe as possible. Scaffolding needs to be studied and it must be properly anchored to the main structures, providing a stable and safe platform for workers. But the workers must also wear safety harnesses to provide extra insurance should the scaffolding give way.

Construction sites need to be properly inspected, with officials making sure they comply with the relevant safety codes. Conversely, there need to be enough inspectors to ensure regular inspection of sites. And those building contractors who fail to meet safety standards must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, with penalties severe enough to deter bad practices that put workers at risk.

Gulf News.com. 23rd Jan

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Organisations which rely heavily on volunteers are warning they will have to have cut back on services because of changes to health and safety laws around the nation.

Under the law changes, volunteers are considered as workers and organisations say it will cost them more money.

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show a staggering 6.4 million people do unpaid work.

Some volunteers deliver meals to the sick and the elderly. Others supervise scout camps or work as marshals at community events like Sydney’s Gay Mardi Gras.

But according to health and safety expert Ken Phillips, this is about to change.

“Everyone is now exposed in a way that they have not been exposed in the past and the expectations on them now are to have the full resources around occupational health and safety (OHS) that you would expect of a government department, BHP, Coles Myer et cetera, et cetera,” he said.

The new laws redefine volunteers as workers for health and safety purposes, which means they now have a duty to do what is reasonably practicable to prevent injury.

Breaches to those laws can attract large fines with volunteers facing penalties of up to $300,000.

Ken Phillips says the changes are a source of great anxiety. He obtained a memo from Scouts Australia warning its volunteers that if they do not follow their organisation’s new procedures, they may be fined.

 “What’s always happened with OHS in terms of volunteers, it’s the full application of common sense and that’s really what drives the current situation,” he said.

“What we’re now talking of is bureaucratic requirements in terms of red tape, form filling and so forth that just are endless.

“So the Scout Association have, in their memo, have said that all scout games are going to have to be reviewed.

“They’re going to have to have safety procedures around those games, they’re going to have to have documented them and have all the procedures in place.

“I’ve seen some stuff sent through to me today where people are saying, you know, the volunteer committee that manages [the] local scout hall, they’re not going to let people use the scout hall for parties anymore because the volunteers could be held liable if there’s an incident at the party.”

Mr Phillips says the new harmonised laws are creating an environment of complete confusion, not providing better protection mechanisms.

“Under OHS law, normal OHS law, people are held responsible for what they reasonably and practicably control,” he said.

“These laws, these new laws for some strange reason have said, well you’ll be held responsible for what is reasonable and practicable. They’ve dropped the word “control”.

“The big debate occurring in the legal profession is whether or not now people can be held liable for things over which they didn’t have control.”

But according to the head of Meals on Wheels in NSW, Leslie MacDonald, it is the charity organisations, not the volunteers, that will be exposed.

“The real concern that I have is that there have been no discussions with government at all at this stage, or no suggestion from government that they’re going to cover the substantial additional cost that that’s going to require,” he said.

“In terms of worker’s compensation premiums but also in terms of the additional workload that’s going to impose on the paid staff in terms of making sure that the legislative requirements are being met.”

Mr MacDonald says it is difficult to know yet what the extra costs will be.

“We haven’t had a chance to analyse in detail the additional administrative requirements, but our guess is that we’re talking in terms of the workers comp premium, a very substantial increase,” he said.

He says with no extra support from the Federal Government, Meals on Wheels will be forced to reduce their services.

“I think it’s going to mean a substantial reduction in the number of meals that we can provide. I mean that seems fairly logical,” Mr MacDonald said.

The Minister of Employment and Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten, released a statement saying safe workplaces will not be adversely affected by the changes and that his department wants to avoid any unnecessary administrative burdens on volunteering organisations.

By Hagar Cohen – ABC News Newcastle

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BUSINESSES in Dandenong are being urged to make workplace safety a priority this year.

The warning from WorkSafe Victoria comes after 25 people died on the job in Victoria in 2011, including the death of a 52-year-old Melbourne Water lab technician in Bangholme last month.

The Endeavour Hills man died after he fell from a walkway into a sewage tank at the Eastern Treatment Plant while taking routine samples.

Melbourne Water general manager of operations Tony Antoniou said the company was assisting a WorkSafe investigation, as well as conducting a safety risk assessment of walkways at its sites.

“We remain absolutely committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure a safe working environment for everyone we work with,” he said.

WorkSafe executive director of health and safety Ian Forsyth said the workers who were injured were often doing routine jobs.

“WorkSafe inspectors and investigators are often told, ‘He was experienced and always careful’ or that ‘We’ve been doing it that way for years and never had any problems before’,” Mr Forsyth said.

“Safety is about understanding what can happen and doing all you can to ensure people are trained, supervised and have what is needed to work safely, even if they’ve done a job a thousand times before.”

Mr Forsyth said employers and workers needed to share the responsibility for a safe workplace.

“For some, challenging the practices and habits of your working life can be hard, but if something goes wrong, the consequences are often immediate, horrific, long-lasting or fatal.

“The fact that so many people died in the last few weeks of last year shows that while you can be doing well, constant vigilance is needed as the situation can change quickly.”

 Greater Dandnong Weekly 16 Jan by Daniel Tran

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