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Welcome to the February 2011 OH&S Newsletter

This month we look at 2 US Chemical  safety Boards reports; truckie deaths, aircraft loading, gender stress ; metal working fluids, needing a toilet, gloves & enforcing PPE use; fall risks & worker suicide; rotating equipment isolation, contract clauses, violence & hazard exposure……...Enjoy!

Multiple deficiencies

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released its final report on the 2008, Bayer CropScience pesticide manufacturing unit explosion that killed two workers & injured eight others. The CSB found multiple deficiencies during a lengthy startup process (after a lengthy maintenance period) that resulted in a runaway chemical reaction inside a residue treater pressure vessel. The vessel ultimately over pressurized & exploded. The vessel careened into the methomyl pesticide manufacturing unit leaving a huge fireball in its wake. The report found that had the trajectory of the exploding vessel taken it in a different direction, pieces of it could have impinged upon and possibly caused a release from piping at the top of a tank of highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC).

CSB investigators found the company failed to perform a thorough Process Hazard Analysis, or PHA, as required by regulation. This resulted in numerous critical omissions, including an overly complex Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was not reviewed and approved, incomplete operator training on a new computer control system, and inadequate control of process safeguards. A principal cause of the accident, the report states, was the intentional overriding of an interlock system that was designed to prevent adding methomyl  process residue into the residue treater vessel before filling the vessel with clean solvent and heating it to the minimum safe operating temperature.

The investigation found that critical operating equipment & instruments were not installed before the restart, & were discovered to be missing after the startup began. Bayer’s Methomyl-Larvin unit MIC gas monitoring system was not in service as the startup ensued, yet Bayer emergency personnel presumed it was functioning & claimed no MIC was released during the incident.

The deaths of the workers were all the more tragic because it could have been prevented had Bayer CropScience provided adequate training, and required a comprehensive pre-startup equipment checkout and strict conformance with appropriate startup procedures. This would have revealed multiple dangerous conditions and procedures that were occurring at a time when the company wanted to restart production of a key pesticide product.

How well do you account for personnel in an evacuation?

A recently released a study on the 2008 heat exchanger rupture & ammonia release at the Goodyear Tyre Company in Houston, Texas, identified significant gaps in facility emergency response training. The incident occurred when an overpressure in a heat exchanger led to a violent rupture of the exchanger hurtling debris that struck and killed a Goodyear employee walking through the area. The heat exchanger contained pressurized anhydrous ammonia, used as a coolant in the production of synthetic rubber; 5 workers were exposed to ammonia released by the rupture.

Managers ordered the plant evacuated. However, CSB investigators found that on the day of the accident the employee tracking system was not operating properly, making it difficult to quickly account for all employees. The CSB found that a malfunction in the computerized electronic employee badge tracking system delayed supervisors in immediately retrieving the list of personnel in their area, requiring handwritten lists to be generated. At about 1:20 p.m. an operations supervisor assessing the damage to the incident area discovered a fatally injured employee buried in rubble in a dimly lit area. The CSB notes that because the fatally injured employee had been a member of the emergency response team, her  absence from the evacuation  muster point was not considered unusual.

The absence of this worker had not been noted due to the lack of training and drills on worker headcounts. Plant personnel were not provided with the proper training to effectively manage this emergency. Company procedures called for routine evacuation and shelter-in-place drills four times a year, but such drills were not held for several years prior to the incident. Management’s adherence to company procedures should have allowed for effective communication between all members of the workforce and a more robust emergency response structure.”

Truck drivers more likely to die at work

Safe Work Australia reported in their latest workrelated traumatic injury fatalities study that 442 workrelated fatalities occurred in 2007/08. This amounts to 2.7 deaths/100,000 workers, a 6% drop compared to the previous 12 months, but exceeds the 5 year average of 439. Truck drivers were found to be 16 times more likely to be killed on the job than workers in other occupations & farmers/farm managers were nearly 6 times more likely to die at work than those in other occupations.

Sixty five% of fatalities were caused by injuries sustained at work, 22% were sustained during travel to or from work, & 12% of victims were bystanders to another person's work activity. Almost a quarter of those fatally injured were truck drivers (69 deaths), 16% (46) were labourers or in similar roles & 11% (31) were farmers or farm managers. The remaining 12% were tradespersons.  Road freight & transport, agriculture & construction were responsible for half of fatalities, &134 deaths (46%) were caused by vehicle incidents. Twenty-eight workers (10%) died from falls from height, 34 (12%) were hit by moving objects and 24 (8%) were hit by falling objects. Workers over the age of 64, with a fatality rate of 14.1/100,000 workers, were more than 5 times more likely to die at work than other employees. Only 8% of all deaths involved women.

The importance of loading aircraft correctly

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released a report late last year which examined the number and types of safety occurrences involving loading of high capacity aircraft over a 7-year period to raise awareness of the issues in the aviation industry. Incorrect loading of containers, pallets or bags into aircraft can result in them being outside of weight or centre of gravity operating limits, and this may influence aircraft controllability. Most high capacity aircraft loading occurrences are relatively minor, with cargo locks not being raised being the most common. More serious occurrences have involved shifting cargo and unlisted cargo being loaded onto aircraft. Aircraft performance has been affected in a small number of cases, and the result has been rejected take off, extra stabiliser trim, or aircraft control difficulties.

Events reported to the ATSB in recent years have included:

  • The flight crew of an Airbus A330 were surprised to find the aircraft nose heavy during takeoff.
  • A dog escaped from the cargo door of a taxiing Boeing 737 and was seen by the flight crew running next to the aircraft as it approached the aerobridge after landing.
  • During pushback, a loud thumping noise was heard coming from the cargo hold by aircraft crew. A subsequent inspection of the aircraft hold revealed the presence of a baggage handler, who had fallen asleep while waiting for late baggage.
  • The front wheel of an aircraft was noted by ground staff to be almost off the ground during loading, because of a tail-heavy aircraft. Generally, there were a small number of loading occurrences/million movements, but there is no room for complacency. Methods for ensuring that aircraft are correctly loaded revolve around a system of cross-checks by load personnel, load controllers & their computer software, & flight crew.

Work stress affecting women differently than men

Belgian researchers have found that workplace health & wellbeing interventions must include measures that reduce the "conflict" between employees' work & private lives. The researchers found the "spillover" of work stressors into home life affects men & women differently. The study of nearly 5000 employees from 9 organisations found men were more prone to chronic fatigue than women where they experienced high job strain, but not high "home-work interference" (HWI). Men & women who reported having high job strain & high HWI were similarly affected by anxiety, but women in this group  were more likely to suffer from chronic fatigue, & men more likely to report poor overall health. The combination of job strain & HWI was more likely to result in chronic fatigue among women because they were more likely to undertake domestic & caring tasks in addition to their job. As for men, the working environment constantly called for better performances & regular career advancements, which could induce higher strain based pressure resulting in poorer perceived health. The results also showed the strongest "moderating role" was played by "private-life variables". When data was adjusted for the living situation in terms of partner & the social support outside work, ratios clearly weaken for all the outcome variables. In contrast, adjustments for work & health-related variables had no impact on these ratios.

The researchers suggested that the association between job strain & HWI on psychological wellbeing "should encourage organisations to develop specific policies aimed at reducing the home to work spillover”. With the implications in terms of threatened productivity, risks of accidents, or sick leave, these results suggest that the association between working & private life components appears to impact male & female workers' health differently.

How is the conflict between your private & working life, do you manage it? Does it affect your health?

Casini, A at al: The Differential Impact of Job Isostrain & Home-Work Interference on Indicators of Physical & Mental Health in Women & Men. J Occ Env Med, 52(12), 2010.

Are you exposed to metalworking fluids?

Ex-MG Rover workers in the engine building division Powertrain Ltd have received compensation after 79 have experienced occupational lung disease (OLD). Metalworking fluids used caused breathing problems for the personnel at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham. After complaints the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated in 2004 reporting that about 12% of staff had been affected by workrelated asthma (WRA) or extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA). In 2006, HSE revealed mist from metalworking machines had caused the diseases, which had led to 101 workers being affected.

The TUC report that all claims have now been settled, the total damages paid by the defendant is a little under £1 million. In 2007, HSE said 87 workers had been struck down with WRA & 24 with EAA, with the worst affected hit by both diseases. The government subsequently agreed to amend legislation, allowing the EAA sufferers to claim industrial disease disability benefits which would otherwise have been available only to the WRA sufferers. Evidence obtained as part of separate civil compensation cases established that Powertrain did not have any adequate risk assessments in place to address harmful substances, that the management of metalworking fluids was inadequate & that significant bacteria was allowed to build up & be released to the factory atmosphere. Is your metal working fluid exposure adequately controlled?

Reinstatement for a driver urgently requiring a toilet

A worker who was sacked for urinating into a drain, instead of the staff toilet 100 m away, & failing to wash his hands, has been reinstated after attributing his actions to a medical condition. In unfair dismissal proceedings before Fair Work Australia Commissioner, Goodman Fielder Ltd (GF) argued that the breaddelivery truck driver had flouted the company's code of conduct for workplace behaviour, quality, hygiene & OHS policies. The worker explained that because of a medical condition he was in significant pain at the time, & urgently needed to urinate. He also said that because he wore gloves while working, his hands never touched food products, & that he would never repeat the offence. The Commissioner accepted he was in pain & wouldn't have made it to the toilet. She noted that when asked by GF's legal representative what he would do in future if facing the same situation, the driver said he would urinate in his pants. "This is not something that a worker should be required to do to avoid termination of his or her employment," she said. In reinstating the driver, the Commissioner said she had no doubt he would manage his medical condition to ensure there was no recurrence of the conduct.

Ly Eng v Goodman Fielder Limited [2011] FWA 317 (18 January 2011)

What happens to our grip strength when we wear gloves?

University of Waterloo researchers conducted a study to investigate the effects of glove flexibility, glove thickness, finger posture/geometry & loss of tactile sensitivity on power grip force and effort.

They found that:

  • A decrease of tactility attributable to the gloves is associated with a small increase in applied grip force & effort during submax efforts.
  • Interdigital spacing of the fingers is associated with a small decrease in grip force during maximal efforts but not submaximal efforts.
  • The stiffness of the glove to bending substantially reduces maximum grip force & substantially increases effort during submaximal efforts.
  • The reduction in force with increasing glove thickness may be partially caused by a reduction in flexor digitorum profundus activity.
  • Snugness did not differ between participants or glove thicknesses.

Bottom line is that if your workforce is required to wear gloves & perform manual tasks there will be a reduction in the grip strength able to be generated especially at maximal levels.

Willms, K et al; Glove Attributes and Their Contribution to Force Decrement and Increased Effort in Power Grip, Human Factors, 51 (6):  797-812

What can happen if you don’t enforce PPE use

A Western Australian (WA) employer that allowed a hazardous task to be undertaken without the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) has been fined over the death of a labour hire worker. In November 2008 the worker was riding an allterrain vehicle without a helmet on a grain farm when he collided with a wire gate. He was found lying on the road the next morning by a truck driver, & died in hospital from head injuries. Host employer Jenara Pty Ltd was charged with & pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the provision of a safe workplace under a labour-hire arrangement, &was fined $50,000 in the Magistrates Court. It was found that the workers on the farm involved were riding the ATV without wearing helmets as a matter of course & that gate supports had been painted to make them more visible after a previous incident, had faded over time. The labour-hire company that supplied the worker, Seatown Holdings Pty Ltd, was also charged over the incident, & fined $30,000 in 2010 proceedings. No-one from Seatown Holdings had visited the farm at any time during the 6 months the man had been working there to check for hazards, identify risks & consider the adequacy of control measures.

Challenge for Telco’s to manage fall risks

British Telecom has been fined £300,000 (A$482,000) following the death of a worker who fell from a ladder while carrying out installation works. Power construction engineer David Askew, 52, suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a wooden ladder at London's Canonbury Telephone Exchange on 27 October 2006. British Telecommunications Plc (BT) was prosecuted after an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). Southwark Crown Court heard Mr Askew was installing distribution boards and running cabling as part of his work & would have been working at a height of more than 4 metres. He fell from a 9 step wooden ladder, sustaining a serious head injury & died 18 days later.

The HSE investigation found a number of issues including a failure to ensure the work at height was properly planned, & that Mr Askew was provided with suitable access equipment for work at height. Two wooden ladders found at the scene had not been subject to an annual inspection, contrary to BT's own health and safety policy. BT was found guilty of criminal safety offences at a previous hearing. They were fined £300,000 & ordered to pay costs of £196,150.

Employer opted for enforceable undertaking for fall prosecution!

A Queensland (QLD) employer has pledged to spend more than $100,000 on safety & community initiatives to avoid prosecution for a worker's fall. In May 2008, the Boeing Training & Flight Services Australia Pty Ltd worker was giving a group of fire fighters a "familiarisation tour" of the company's Brisbane site when they asked to see the pit behind a flight simulator. The worker, who was standing on one of three interlocking plates that had to be removed in a certain order to uncover the pit, asked a fire fighter to lift the wrong plate first, & the plates plus the worker fell into the pit. He suffered shoulder lacerations & tendon damage. Workplace Health & Safety QLD investigated the incident and decided to prosecute the employer for breaching the QLD Workplace Health & Safety Act 1995, but Boeing proposed an enforceable undertaking, in lieu of prosecution, which was accepted.

In the undertaking, Boeing said it had no previous convictions under the Act, regretted the incident, & was committed to complying with safety legislation.

After the incident it:

  • sent an alert to simulator technicians worldwide
  • screwed the pit plates down so a screwdriver was needed to remove them;
  • placed a sticker on each individual plate to clarify the correct removal order;
  • developed a safe work procedure for plate removal;  reinforced directives to all employees not to access the pits; and
  • conducted a safety training refresher for all workers.

Under the terms of the undertaking, it pledged to spend:

  • $10,000 conducting risk assessment training that would "go beyond the standard approach" and address issues such as personal accountability;
  • $8000 training workers in general workplace health & safety awareness plus specific topics such as working at heights;
  • $3140 on health assessments for all employees;
  • $3000 preparing an educative safety paper on the risk of injury associated with the pits; &
  • $15,000 on a third-party audit of its OHS management system (within 3 months & again 12 & 24 months later).

The employer agreed to donate $24,000 worth of flight simulator & instructor time to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and $34,000 in flight simulator & training time to Aviation High (a specialised state high school catering for students interested in aviation). It also agreed to pay investigation and other costs ($7509.39) Perhaps this process is more effective and of greater benefit than paying money to government consolidated revenue but why couldn’t these actions have been taken prior to this foreseeable incident? What has to change to stop us being incident rather than risk driven?

Why are French postal workers suiciding?

The suicide of a French postal worker has prompted fears about working conditions in the country's Post Office. A 56 year old worker killed himself on 8 January in Bouches-du-Rhône, in SE France. It is the fifth in the region in a year and the 71st nationwide.

The worker who died this month was being subjected to an audit after making a 160 Euro accounting error. His wife told the news agency her husband had been worrying about work for the last 6 months and said she may take the Post Office to court. The Post Office has started an independent internal enquiry. France Télécom was hit by a similar problem in 2008 and 2009. A total of 35 workers killed themselves, in a scandal that led to the resignation of the company's chief executive and to dramatic changes in work methods. It does make you wonder what is driving these people to such an action- does your workplace have that effect on employees?

Why rotating equipment isolation is crucial

A UK packaging manufacturer has been fined after a worker who had been working with the company for less than 2 months was killed when a machine he was working on was activated while he was still inside. Maintenance worker Clive Hall, 50, suffered fatal head injuries at Glossop Carton and Print Ltd's factory in Padfield on 8 September 2006. Birmingham Crown Court heard the deceased was carrying out maintenance work to the inside of a 'cut and crease' machine, used to manufacture packaging, when it was switched on by the operator. Mr Hall was struck on the head by bars that transfer cardboard through the machine and was killed instantly.

At a hearing at Chesterfield Magistrate's Court in May 2010, the employer pleaded guilty to criminal safety offences. In December, the firm was fined £50,000 with £76,150 costs. His tragic death could have been avoided by simple measures to prevent the machine being switched on while he was inside.

How closely are you reading contract clauses?

What was bad news for BP, workers and the  environment around the Gulf of Mexico, might not be such bad news for Transocean. The firm that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in April 2010 with the loss of 11 lives has made Fortune Magazine's top 10 stocks listing for 2011. Not only is Transocean's share price set to soar, according to the magazine, it also has a copper-bottomed get-out clause from liability for the disaster. The rig, which was leased by BP, was insured for $560 million, a sum already paid to Transocean. Fortune reports that BP disputed a claim that Transocean's contract shielded it from liability for the clean-up costs and restitution.

This prompted Transocean to publish the contract, which stipulates BP 'shall assume full responsibility for and shall protect, defend, indemnify, and hold Transocean harmless from and against any loss, damage, expense, claim, fine, penalty, demand or liability for pollution or contamination... without regard for whether the pollution or contamination is caused in whole or in part by the negligence or fault of Transocean.' BP even indemnified Transocean against 'gross' negligence or 'any other theory of legal liability' claimed by plaintiffs or regulators. Fortune says this, combined with increase oil prices and demand, means the 'upside' for Transocean 'is even greater' than the 22% rise in share price predicted for this year by one analyst.

Meanwhile, families of oil workers and residents of the Gulf of Mexico will be left to ponder how indemnifying a company from the consequences of acts of gross negligence or any other form of legal liability can be conducive to best practice. In November 2010, the President's panel investigating the disaster reported a culture of complacency had afflicted Transocean, BP & Halliburton, all of whom made bad decisions in the run up to the deadly explosion.

Are our workplaces becoming less violent?

Not in the UK where official statistics indicate the number of incidents of workplace violence increased last year, although the number of victims fell. The discrepancy is explained by an increase in the number of victims who experienced multiple violent incidents, the Health and Safety Executive analysis of British Crime Survey statistics for 2009-10 found.

The latest stats show approximately 318,000  workers experienced at least one incident of violence at work last year, compared to an estimated 327,000 workers in 2008-09. There were an estimated 677,000 incidents of violence at work in 2009-10, up 8% on the previous year. This new figures are made up of 310,000 assaults & 366,000 threats. Respondents in the protective service occupations, for example police officers, were most at risk of violence at work, with 9% having experienced one or more incidents of actual or threatened violence while working during the year prior to their interview.

Others at risk included health professionals, at 3.8 %, & health and social welfare associate professionals, with 2.6%. Overall, 1.4% of women and 1.5% of men were victims of violence at work once or more during the year prior to their interview. An estimated 43% of all people assaulted or threatened at work were repeat victims in 2009-10, an increase from 36% cent in 2008-09. Are those in your workplace at risk of violence- how do you manage that risk & does it work?

Violence at work: Findings from the 2009/10 British Crime Survey, HSE, January 2011

Unsurprisingly, men & women are exposed to different hazards at work!

A European survey has found that the physical hazards facing men & women at work differ. The 5th European Working Conditions Survey, undertaken by the Dublin based organisation Eurofound, found a third of men (33%) were exposed to vibration at work, but just one in 10 (10 %) of women worked with vibrating tools or machinery. They also found men (42%) were far more likely than women (24%) to be required to carry heavy loads. However, almost 3 times the number of women (13% compared to 5 %) were required to lift or move people as part of their work. Similar proportions of men & women work in tiring positions (48% & 45% respectively), or make repetitive hand & arm movements (64% and 63 %), which are also the most common physical hazards. The survey found the proportion of European workers exposed to physical hazards had not dropped in 20 years.

Written by Julie Armour

Click here to read the January 2011 OH&S Newsletter