All Entries in the "Safety Equipment" Category
Stopping Falls From Heights
Health and safety inspectors visiting one contruction site were shocked to find two young apprentices working on a girder 5metres above the ground in order to paint a support beam. Asked why they did not have safety harnesses or nets in place the men said they had been told that because they were still on [...]
NSW Mine Accident Alert
A fatal accident occurred recently in which the driver of a remotely controlled miner was crushed when a shuttle car was being maneuvered at a mine face. The regional inspector of mines Michael Downs noted that employees entering the coal industry for the first time are not fully aware of the implications and hazards of [...]
How to Get your Boss Serious About Safety
Most people charged with responsibility for safety at work find that it is often hard to convince management to fully back a culture of safety. For some with particularly enlightened bosses this is not an issue but unfortunately this is not true in the majority of cases. If you need help here are some ways [...]
How to know a Safety Culture when you see one
While an exact definition of a safety culture does not exist, at Safety Concepts we believe that organizations with effective safety cultures share an enduring commitment to safety. This commitment is reflected in certain behaviours… The company acknowledges a high risk, error-prone nature of the organization’s activities, There is a blame-free environment where individuals are [...]
Forklift Safety
We get many enquiries from clients asking for help with guidelines for the safe use of forklifts. And its little wonder; a large number of injuries and deaths occur every year as a result of forklift accidents. Forklifts are dangerous because they generally operate in confined areas, and people in the vicinity of the unit [...]
3 Great Tips for Getting More Safety Resources
Sometimes getting those extra resources you need to develop your safety program can be a big challenge. Unless there’s a regulator at the gate, most managers want tangible proof that they should give more dollars to the safety cause. Here are three smart tips to help you get more support from CEO’s and other senior [...]
Big Fines for Fall
A retail company that was fined $30,000 under Section 28 of the WHS Act 1995 could have been fined even more, according to the Cairns Industrial Magistrates Court. Working at a height of four to five metres, a worker was erecting a storage rack by using a forklift to raise beams on a pallet, and [...]
Advice for Sick Building Syndrome
The recent story about an office building in Brisbane being blamed for an outbreak of cancer related illnesses made us think about something called the Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). According to our research SBS is quite real but the reported symptoms suffered by workers are a lot less serious than those in the Brisbane story. [...]
No Safety Systems Costs SA Firm $9,000
In South Australia today a labour hire firm was fined $9,000 for failing to conduct adequate site assessments or hazard analysis. It was also charged with failing to properly assess the adequacy of its training systems and to ensure safe operating systems were in place for machine usage. The Industrial Magistrate rejected the owners plea that the accident would [...]
Queensland WHS Prosecution – Construction
Broadbeach fatality costs contractor $70,000 in fines One contractor suffered fatal injuries when two large concrete beams fell onto the backhoe he was operating to demolish a concrete pedestrian footbridge. The defendant had a previous convicton under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 which was taken into account with this breach. The WHSQ investigation [...]
