Welcome to the March 2011 OH&S Newsletter.

This month we focus on risk visibility specifically looking at assumptions & designers; enforcement, Use mines & fat shiftworkers; work-life, assumptions & fake smile hazards; franchiser fine, exercise & work death jailing; I-phone poisoning, Mazda suicides, Int. Women’s Day, & liquid nitrogen handling………...Enjoy!

Assumption risks in offshore safety training

There has been an interesting debate raging in the global offshore community related to the hazards associated with basic induction training aimed at creating confidence in participants required to travel & work offshore in responding to possible helicopter emergencies. The training generally requires participants to get into a device that will simulate a helicopter ditching at sea & participants  learn the required response to escape from a helicopter underwater. Those who have been in helicopter ditching’s at sea have said this training was invaluable & I have even heard it has helped the odd person who has rolled in a car.

Like all training it is meant to give confidence & to do that it needs to use equipment similar to that to be used on the helicopters used to travel offshore.  In recent times 4 point harnesses with a rotary hub release were introduced as a safer option to lap belts. The hub releases on these devices are designed to be used soon after exposure to salt water & are not to be reused once a helicopter ditches. In the training situation, the pools used are chlorinated & the hub releases are used on at least a daily basis. As a result the devices can jam which prevents those being trained from being able to get out of the simulators whilst underwater especially whilst hanging upside down underwater- not a confidence building experience!

What is interesting about this debate is that once 1 student asked questions related to his experience he received many emails from all over the world indicating the commonness of the occurrence. Training instructors & others have quoted the requirements related to the response to a lack or harness release during training but it’s not apparent that these are always being applied. It’s a great example of the assumptions we make about our safety systems when we have limited information, we wait until a death occurs before we can be motivated for effective change. What assumptions are you making about your plant & the environment it’s being used in? & plant used in training?

Designers can’t ignore foreseeable risks

A recent case illustrated that designers of plant that comply with their contractual scope of work might not be fulfilling their safety obligations, as they failed to convince the NSW Industrial Court they had nothing to do with a workplace death. In October 2003 a Hy- Tec Industries Pty Ltd (HTI) worker & a site visitor attempted to manually close a gate after its automated system failed. As they manoeuvred one of the gate's 1300 kg leaves, it slipped from its supporting portals, falling on the visitor inflicting fatal injuries. HTI & the gate's manufacturer, Lejah Pty Ltd, were fined $135 000 & $155 000 respectively for breaches of the NSW OHS Act 2000. The gate's designer, Simpson Design Associates Pty Ltd (SDA), pleaded not guilty however, Justice Haylen found its failure to consider possible breakdowns, & make provisions for the safe manual operation of the gate, gave rise to significant risk, & fined them $185,000 so they appealed.

SDA argued Justice Haylen failed consider the limits of its involvement in the gate's construction. It said he mistakenly treated SDA as though it designed the whole of the gate, when it was only responsible for the structural steel design. The judge also failed to consider the fact SDA contemplated contributing further to the design, but was not given the chance to do so. The Appeal Court found the claim SDA had no responsibility beyond ensuring the gate was "structurally sound" to bear "probable loads" was too narrow, & ultimately unsustainable. SDA knew the steel frame it designed would be controlled by a motor. "It was completely foreseeable that the electric motor might fail... in which case it was imperative to be able to open & close the gate manually," they found. They also found the claim SDA was denied opportunity to contribute further to the design was inconsistent with its claim that it fulfilled all of its responsibilities, & noted that SDA did not ask to see workshop drawings or suggest any further revisions of its own drawings prior to construction. In rejecting the appeal, the court said it was imperative that "anyone whose business operations come within the provisions of the OHS Act" has regard for their obligation to comply. This is especially so when work is carried out or goods are supplied under a contract. The contractual terms may not create obligations that are co-extensive with those created by the OHS Act. In other words, that there may not be an exact correlation between the task to be performed by a business & the obligations of the Act.

Simpson Design Associates Pty Ltd v Inspector Ching [2011] NSWIRComm 7

If you don’t want your employees to handle heavy items you must enforce this

So a Victorian employer found when an employee was awarded over $1,000,000 in damages as the Supreme Court found that the employee should not have been permitted to perform heavy manual-handling work alone and without mechanical assistance.

In late 2002 & early 2003, the 23-year-old Trevor Roller Services Pty Ltd worker accepted two overtime shifts which involved lifting and moving a large number of heavy metal springs. According to the employee, the first 5 hour shift caused a "niggle" in his lower back, & the second shift caused sharp pain. He was prescribed mild anti-inflammatories & painkillers, but continued to work until the following month, when he resigned and moved interstate.

The worker gained further employment, but was increasingly restricted by back pain. Subsequent scans revealed a disc prolapse &he underwent surgery, but his problems persisted, he was deemed unfit for physical work and so claimed damages. 

He has been left unable to play sport, limited in how long he can walk or stand for, how much he can lift, & suffers constant pain. Before Justice Beach, the employee accused his employer of negligence, saying he was not offered use of the factory's overhead crane - or assistance from co-workers - even though the larger springs he was handling weighed about 50 kgs. 

The employer argued the worker failed to immediately report his injury despite knowledge of the workers' compensation system claiming his condition could have been linked to a pre-existing degenerative disease. It also suggested he should have asked for assistance and worked slower if the task was so difficult. 

Justice Beach commented that any such suggestion failed to give sufficient regard to the employer's obligation to not only establish & maintain a safe system of work, but also to enforce such a system. The employer had not fulfilled his duty of care and should not have allowed the worker to lift large numbers of heavy springs for several hours without "appropriate manual or mechanical assistance.

He also accepted that the worker didn't report his injury immediately because he thought it would go away, & said that even if he did have a pre-existing degenerative disease, it would not have become symptomatic in someone of his age & good health "any time in the foreseeable future". Do you know if your employees are following your manual handling requirements? What is the most risky handling task they perform?

Crowe v Trevor Roller Shutter Services Pty Ltd (No 2) [2011] VSC 28

2010 a bad year for US mines

Last month saw the US’s Mines Safety & Health Administration report that 2010 had been a bad year for mining fatalities with seventy one miners dying in workplace incidents. According to the Assistant Secretary for MSHA, 2010 will be remembered for the dramatic explosion that killed 29 men at the Upper Big Branch Mine & for the deaths of 42 other miners across the nation whose lives ended in needless tragedy. Roof falls and rib rolls, haulage incidents, truck incidents and being struck by falling material or moving objects accounted for the deaths of the 42 miners. Overall, 48 miners died in coalmine incidents and 23 miners died in metal and non-metal mines, half of these victims were contractors.

• Seven metal/non-metal miners died in powered  haulage accidents. Four surface coal mine truck drivers were killed in powered haulage accidents when they lost control of their trucks and either struck another truck, turned over the truck, or the truck went through a berm and over a highwall.
• Six coal miners were killed working in close proximity to mining or haulage equipment.
• Six coal miners and two metal/non-metal miners were fatally crushed by roof falls and rib rolls.
• Six metal/non-metal miners and two coal miners died when they were struck by falling material or moving objects.

What causes fatalities in your country’s mines and how well do you manage those risks?

Shift workers more likely to be fat

A University of Queensland study has found that shift work increases an employee's chances of being overweight or obese by up to 30% per cent. The researchers collected information about the health of nearly 2500 female nurses from Australia, New Zealand & the UK. About half of the participants were day workers, & the other half were shift workers.

On average, 25% of Australian women are overweight and 17% are obese, whereas 32% per cent of participants were overweight and 27% were obese. Only 1% was underweight. While nearly 60% of participants were overweight or obese, 61% reported having a high quality diet. Researchers found that this could be explained by the fact the study measured the quality of food consumed, but not the quantity. The study also found shift workers were 1.5 times more likely to be overweight or obese than day workers, even after adjustments for physical activity, alcohol consumption & age. Shift workers were also more likely to report low levels of physical activity, smoke, & have a poor diet. These results were consistent with several studies of both men & women in other occupational groups however the unhealthy weight among health professionals was surprising, since "they may be considered more informed than the general population.

Work life balance suffering?

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has found that nearly one in three people in the UK have been in a relationship that has suffered because of work pressures, according to a new poll.  IOSH questioned 2,000 people to  examine how a poor work-life balance can damage relationships. Of the 29% who said they had been in a relationship adversely affected by a poor work-life balance, the two main problems identified were long working hours and high workloads.

This isn't solely a problem for the employee as an unhappy worker is often an unproductive one. Overall, some 60% of people surveyed said that said their worklife balance was either very poor, poor or could be better. The research suggested that employers need to be open to flexible working hours to allow home-life and work-life to have a healthy balance so employees should avoid long hours. What happens at your workplace?

Safe plant assumption led to paraplegia

A Western Australian host employer that assumed a large piece of equipment was stable has been fined $60,000, after a labour hire worker was crushed and left a paraplegic. In September 2007 the worker was welding a component of a 45,000 litre mining vehicle water tank, when it toppled over & struck him. An investigation found that chains connecting the component to an overhead gantry crane had been removed prior to welding, & that no other adequate mechanism was used to hold the equipment in place.

The host employer, G & G Mining Fabrication Pty Ltd, was charged with and pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace. The labour-hire company, Top Gold, was also charged over the incident, and will be tried next month. How well do you manage the OHS of your labour hire employees?

Implement risk assessments

O'Keefe Construction Ltd has been fined after a teenager suffered burns to his legs at its depot in Kent England. The 18-year-old employee, was in a shed at the site on 26 October 2009, spray painting a lighting tower. He used thinners in the process & inadvertently spilled some on his trousers. When he moved across the shed to go to his locker and find a change of clothes, he walked near a gas burner which was being used to heat the workshop. His clothes caught fire. He ran outside where colleagues hosed him down and put out the flames.

The worker suffered burns to both legs, his left arm and his hand. He was in hospital for 16 days, six of which were spent in intensive care. Since then the employee has undergone skin grafts and has been unable to work for six months. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had completed a risk assessment, but had not implemented the measures identified.   A further management action plan, dated three years after the original assessment, re-iterated these measures, but they had still not been put in place at the time of the incident. HSE inspector Caroline Penwill commented: 'In this case, the company had assessed the risks from paint spraying and had identified measures to control the risks, but had not put them in place. It is important that the findings of a risk assessment are acted upon. Had the company done so, then this terrible incident could have been prevented.' O'Keefe Construction (Greenwich) Ltd pleaded guilty at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court to a criminal safety offence and was fined £20,000. It was ordered to pay costs of £6,329. How well do you implement your risk assessments? Do you ever check and does the frequency of the checks relate to the risk exposure?

The fake smile hazard

A study published in the Academy of Management  Journal has discovered that fake smiles can actually depress mood & hurt health. The 'have a nice day' grin required of many hospitality & other service staff could be seriously bad for their health.

Researchers examined a group of bus drivers who often have to display a positive, courteous demeanour as part of their job description. The Lead author, an assistant professor of management at Michigan State University, said the findings suggest customer service workers who fake smile throughout the day worsen their mood & withdraw from work, affecting productivity. Employers may think that simply getting their employees to smile is good for the organisation, but that's not necessarily the case, as smiling for the sake of smiling can lead to emotional exhaustion & withdrawal.

The study is one of the first of its kind to examine emotional displays over a period of time while also exploring gender differences. The results were stronger for the women bus drivers being harmed more by surface acting, meaning their mood worsened even more than the men & they withdrew more from work.

The fake smile is an employment pre-requisite for many in the service sector, particularly retail and hospitality staff. The practice is more widespread than you might think. Many call centres require a fixed smile when dealing with callers, despite the penned-in workforce being visible only to their supervisors. Whose mood could be affected by smiling at your workplace?

Franchiser plus franchisee fined!

A NSW franchiser has been fined $110,000, after an "erroneous view" of its safety obligations towards franchisees led to an explosion that injured a worker. In 2007, Maintenance & Contracting Pty Ltd director Michael Pascoe purchased a Hose Doctor franchise from Parker Hannifin (Australia) Pty Ltd (PHA). Hose Doctors undertake mobile servicing of high-pressure hoses & hydraulic hoses. They drive vans that are specially fitted with a rear workshop, & report to a service centre which allocates clients & performs administrative tasks. They are also required to comply with PHA's specifications, standards, operating procedures & training requirements.

In June 2008, Pascoe was driving from a client's premises to a supplier's premises when there was an explosion in the workshop compartment of his van. The force of the explosion sent metal into its cabin and blew out the front windscreen. Pascoe escaped with minor injuries, but PHA was charged with and pleaded guilty to breaching duties of controllers under the NSW OHS Act 2000.

In the Industrial Court, Justice Haylen heard that immediately prior to the incident an acetylene cylinder & an oxygen cylinder in the workshop had open valves, & that the valve on the acetylene torch was barely closed. Out-of-date break cleaner was also stored in the workshop. The material safety data sheet (MSDS) for acetylene & brake cleaner requires well-ventilated storage but the workshop section of the vehicle, which had not been modified, was fully sealed with no airflow vent.

PHA exercised control over franchised Hose Doctors, but its mandatory specification standards & operating procedures did not ensure franchised hose doctors complied with Australian Standards in respect to the storage and transport of flammable substances. PHA contended that Pascoe, as the owner & director of a company, could have put in place additional safety systems, & noted that his injuries were only minor. It also noted that the incident report commissioned by WorkCover found the "root cause" of the explosion was poor trade practice on the part of the person who left the valves open.

PHA admitted it had made misguided assumptions about the extent of its safety obligations towards franchisees. After the incident, it introduced new safety processes including procedures for storing flammable gas. PHA said it had a comprehensive safety system for its own employees & the use of its products, and had been operating since 1968 without any OHS convictions. Justice Haylen said PHA's failure to give safety directions regarding the safe storage of dangerous gas constituted a serious and potentially fatal breach. How clear are your storage instructions?

Exercise to reduce cancer risks

The World Health Organization's (WHO) released new Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health were released last month & it is perhaps no coincidence they were released on World Cancer Day. The guidelines suggest that 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity can reduce the risk of breast & colon cancers in those aged over 18. According to WHO figures: In 2008, almost 460,000 females died from breast cancer, while close to 610,000 males and females died from colorectal cancer. WHO recommended people aged 5 to 17 years complete at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity a week.

Apart from advocating physical activity, however, WHO also urged more research into additional factors that contribute to cancer. WHO also highlighted other risk factors, such as tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, some occupational exposures, & various environmental chemicals. How many in your workforce do 150 mins exercise each week?

Canadian work death imprisonment conviction

For just the second time in Canada, an employer has been convicted of criminal negligence stemming from a workplace incident leading to the death of a worker. Pasquale Scrocca, owner of a Quebec landscape company, was operating a backhoe on 12 June 2006, when it rolled down a slope, pinning his employee against a wall so he suffered fatal injuries. The front brakes and the emergency brake on the backhoe were found to be completely non-functional. An investigation found the backhoe, bought in 1976, had not undergone any regular maintenance. The court found there was a breach of the 'legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to a person' and sentenced Scrocca to serve a conditional sentence of imprisonment of 2 years less a day. The sentence will be served in the community with conditions, including a curfew.

The prosecution was brought under Canada's criminal workplace killing law. This was introduced in response to the Westray mine explosion on 9 May 1992 where 26 men were killed. Prior to the Scrocca case, just one company has been convicted under the law. Transpave plead guilty in 2007 to criminal negligence related to the death at work 23-year-old Steve L'Ecuyer. In a pending case, 3 company executives in Ontario are currently facing criminal negligence charges stemming from a 2009 swing stage collapse that killed 4 workers & seriously injured another. The executives, along with Metron Construction Corporation, have been charged with 4 counts of criminal negligence causing death & 1 count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Individuals convicted under the Canadian workplace killing law can be sentenced to serve up to life in prison, while the corporation can face a limitless fine.

Poisoned for your I-Pad or I-Phone in the global supply chain

Chinese workers who suffered debilitating solvent related neurological problems while making touchscreens for mobile devices, including iPhones, have written to Apple asking it to do more to help them. Some 137 workers suffered adverse health effects following exposure to the solvent n-hexane, used to clean touch screens. Five workers, including 27-yearold Jia Jingchuan, have signed a letter to chief executive officer Steve Jobs, asking Apple to offer more help. In late February, workers told the New York Times that many were forced to accept compensation & resign after signing papers which absolved the company which runs the factory, Wintek, of liability. Wintek denied workers were pressed to sign the papers.

For Apple & other consumer electronics giants tapping  the global supply chain, this sort of controversy has become familiar. In its annual report, published last week, Apple acknowledged the Wintek incident. 'In 2010 we learned that 137 workers at the Suzhou facility of Wintek, one of Apple's suppliers, had suffered adverse health effects following exposure to n-hexane, a chemical in cleaning agents used in some manufacturing processes,' the report read. 'We required Wintek to stop using n-hexane & to provide evidence that they had removed the chemical from their production lines. Mary Gallagher, associate professor of political science, & director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, said global manufacturers flocked to China for the low wages & low prices. She suggests there is an incentive in such a competitive market for factory managers to cut corners with the first cuts were usually made to worker safety!

Mazda suicides

A Japanese court has ordered car manufacturer Mazda to pay 63 million yen (A$742,000) in damages to the parents of an employee who was ruled to have taken his own life because of overwork-related depression. The worker, who has not been identified because of the stigma in Japan associated with suicide, was a buyer who lived in company housing & was depressed from being overworked, according to Yutaka Kikui, the lawyer for the worker's parents. He was repeatedly ridiculed by his bosses, in front of co-workers, as a failure who racked up unnecessary overtime, adding to his stress, Kikui said.

The damages award follows a 'condolence payment' from Mazda & a 2009 government labour office decision that also ruled the death work-related, allowing the parents to receive the additional payment.The latest damages plus the other payments give the parents the entire 110 million yen (A$1.337 million) they demanded in their lawsuit filed against Mazda in 2008. Good argument for monitoring workloads!

Factory fire protest began International Women’s Day (IWD) 100 years ago!

What established the modern celebration of IWD,  was the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York on 25 March 1911 that killed 146 young women workers, most of whom were immigrants. The workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells & exits. In the subsequent court case a jury acquitted the company owners. However, they lost a subsequent civil suit in 1913 & plaintiffs won compensation of $75/deceased victim. The insurance company paid the company $60,000 more than the reported losses, or about $400 per casualty. In 1913, the owner was once again arrested for locking the door in his factory during working hours. He was fined $20. I wonder if that stopped him.

How invisible was this risk?

A workplace tragedy prompted the CSIRO to develop an award-winning solution to reducing the "potentially catastrophic" risks associated with a routine task of decanting liquid N2 from bulk storage into smaller containers (Dewars). It is just tragic that it took a death to better manage this well known risk. In 2001, "a culmination of failed controls" caused the release of liquid nitrogen (N2) into an airtight laboratory & the death of a worker. Immediately after the incident, reviews led to a number of improvements in storage & handling processes however, the "potentially catastrophic" risks (asphyxiation & explosion) associated with the task were still concerns. In 2008 a new risk-assessment approach highlighted room for further improvement; CSIRO began investigating ways to make the task safer through isolation & automation. The result was a liquid N2 filling station that eliminated the need for manual decanting & incorporated further controls:

• restricted access to the filling station room;
• automated filling of each Dewar to a programmed weight, & automated shut-off if the weight is not detected after a pre-set time;
• a "continuous air purge" during filling to prevent a build-up of liquid N2, & automated shut-off if airflow is compromised;
• an observation window for staff to monitor the process in safety;
• interlocks that ensure the correct filling hose is used for open or pressure Dewars;
• automatic room lock-off upon hazard detection;
• manual response to restart the fill post fault;
• automatic venting of the pressure-filling hose at cycle completion prior to disconnections; &
• an emergency stop button to shut off the liquid N2 supply at any time.

How many potentially catastrophic risks are accepted in your industry/workplace & are being dismissed as unlikely to occur even though there are minimal controls in place?

Written by Julie Armour

Click here to read the February 2011 OH&S Newlsetter