The Australian News reports a public servant injured while having sex with an acquaintance on a business trip is allowed workers’ compensation. The article, here, notes the woman was in a motel room and suffered facial and psychological injuries when a glass light fitting came away from the wall above the bed as she was having sex in November 2007. An article on aoljobs, details the woman injured her face, nose and tooth.

 

 

In the report, the News notes, Sydney Federal Court Justice John Nicholas concluded that the injuries were suffered by the woman in the course of her employment. “The judge set aside the decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which upheld the rejection by ComCare, the federal government workplace safety body. He said the tribunal erred in finding it was necessary for the woman to show she had been taking part in an activity which led to her injury ‘which was expressly or impliedly induced or encouraged by her employer.’"

 

 

 

“If the applicant had been injured while playing a game of cards in her motel room she would have been entitled to compensation," the News article goes on to say, "even though it could not be said her employer induced or encouraged that activity. In the absence of any misconduct or an intentionally self-inflicted injury, the fact that the applicant was engaged in sexual activity rather than some other lawful recreational activity does not lead to any different result.”

 

 

The aol article by reporter Claire Gordon says the worker filed for workers' compensation with Australia's federal government's safety agency ComCore, which says its compensation scheme ‘covers any injury or illness arising ‘out of and in the course of employment. .. This includes coverage for journeys and for ordinary recesses and breaks."  [WCx]

 

 

Gordon writes, “But that doesn't mean employees in this country should go out and have vigorous sex on business trips, in the hope of a paid vacation. U.S. worker's compensation law is a little more strict, covering only injuries that occur while a person is carrying out their job duties.”

 

Posted in Legal Doctrines, Management Commitment |

 

 

It is the first of a series of statewide campaign visits targeting basic safety issues, the acting Director of WorkSafe’s Construction and Utilities Division, Allan Beacom, said.

 

 

“What we find is that employers and tradespeople consistently fail to properly address the basic safety issues like fall protection, electrical safety, housekeeping, site security and supervision,” he said.

 

 

“At this time of the year there is an extraordinary amount of work which has to be completed to meet contractual requirements. In such a busy environment the already-existing risks can be magnified. During our visits, inspectors will be issuing safety improvement and prohibition notices and if they’re not dealt with, the risk of prosecution, whether or not someone is hurt, is high.”

 

 

There were 425 claims in the domestic construction sector last financial year with treatment and rehabilitation costs exceeding/ nearly $5.5 million. The absence of fall protection on a domestic housing site is a feature of WorkSafe’s current enforcement campaign showing workers on the roof of a house.

 

 

“Safety issues have been raised, but there’s reluctance to deal with them because it’s a ‘two-minute job’. It’s then that the WorkSafe inspector drives up,” Beacom continued. “Apart from the need for rails, a lot of time will be lost and it’s likely he’d find other issues. Doing the job right, the first time, is in your interests.

 

 

“The good news is that businesses and individuals can make a difference by taking a few simple measures and although Victoria is Australia’s safest state with a record low number of work-related injuries, a lot more can be done.” (WCxKit)

 

 

Other metropolitan and regional areas will be targeted in coming months.

 

 

 

Posted in Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contactInfo@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

Posted in Product Liability, Safety and Loss Control |

A Welshpool, Australia manufacturing company has been fined $20,000 over an incident in which an employee sustained injuries to his left arm when part of a rope press shattered and struck him.

 

According to the Western Australian Department of Commerce, Jeminex Brands & Operations Pty Ltd (formerly Beaver Brands) pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court recently. (WCxKit)

 

Jeminex Brands is a manufacturer of wire rope slings and chain slings. Using a rope press, wire rope of a required length is fed through an aluminum collar known as a “ferrule” and the ferrule is then compressed between two dies until they touch to hold the rope together.

 

The pressure applied by the dies is able to be varied according to the diameter of the rope, with maximum pressures stipulated in a chart of pressures in megapascals of pressure. The process is known as “swaging”.

 

A Jeminex employee was engaged in swaging rope. He had already completed two ropes by visually determining when the dies touched. When he swaged the third rope, the dies came together and shattered, causing lacerations to his left arm. The amount of pressure on the dies can be pre-set, and once that maximum pressure is reached, the limit switch is activated and no further pressure can be applied. The maximum pressure stipulated for the diameter of rope being used by the employee was five megapascals. The wire rope press was set at a maximum pressure of 34 megapascals.

 

The court heard that the employee was not instructed to check or change the maximum pressure of the wire rope press before he began the task.

 

It was practicable for the employer to have trained its employee to either set the press to the maximum recommended pressure or to set the pressure at a low level and increase it in small increments until the dies touched.

 

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Lex McCulloch said the case should serve as a reminder of the importance of training and instruction in the workplace.

 

“Training of new and young workers is one of WorkSafe’s operational priority areas, and a large amount of time and resources are invested in ensuring that employers provide workers with suitable and adequate induction and training,” McCulloch said.

 

“This worker had been with the employer for four months, and this incident made it apparent that he had not been provided with sufficient training and instruction to operate the machinery in a safe manner. (WCxKit)

 

“Every employer has the responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace; to share information and to provide training and supervision – that is part of the employer’s basic duty of care.

Australian Tire Center, Director Fined After Worker Suffers Injuries 

A Yamba tire center (New South Wales, Australia) and its director have been fined a total of $170,000 and ordered to pay WorkCover’s legal costs after an employee received serious injuries while fitting new tires to an earthmover, according to a report from the WorkCover Authority of NSW.

Lower River was convicted and fined $160,000. Anthony Hardacre was convicted and fined $10,000.

Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He is an editor and contributor to Workers Compensation Management Program: Reduce Costs 20% to 50%. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

 

 

 

 

©2012 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact us at: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

Posted in Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

 

According to WorkCover CEO Lisa Hunt, the agreement would have wide-ranging benefits due to the large amount of work carried out by NSW Public Works, and ensure greater consistency and co-operation in safety standards. (WCxKit)
 

"NSW Public Works is the key agency that oversees the procurement, designs, construction and maintenance of more than $1 billion worth of State public infrastructure, services and facilities for the NSW community each year," Hunt said.  "WorkCover NSW administers the Work Health and Safety legislation and Workers Compensation Scheme which aims to ensure the safety of around three million workers in NSW, spread across more than 265,000 businesses.
 

"Through this agreement, WorkCover will assist NSW Public Works maintain consistency across their main construction and maintenance projects.”

According to Hunt, it is essential that injury prevention on all their projects is of the highest priority.

 

"With such a high volume of work, many of NSW Public Works’ projects are contracted out, and there needs to be consistency for everyone to ensure at the highest level of work health and safety," Hunt remarked.
 

 

"It is also important that in the event of an injury, workers across all projects are offered consistent, high-level support through the Workers Compensation Scheme and helped back to work as soon as possible.
 

 

NSW Public Works Deputy Director General Brian Baker added the agreement demonstrated a joint commitment by both agencies to achieve safe workplaces. (WCxKit)
 

 

 

"This agreement will improve work health and safety, injury management, return to work, and workers compensation in the government construction sector – which will undoubtedly impact upon the construction sector as a whole," Baker commented.

 

 

 

©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact

Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.

  

Posted in WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

A new national survey of 42,000 Australian workers in 2011 found they  are under more pressure than ever before, working longer hours than they are paid for, and increasingly having work invade their home life, totally shattering the myth that employees are to blame for the nation’s productivity. According to a report from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the largest survey of Australian workers found that while the modern workplace is for some less physically demanding than in the past, working hours have increased and new forms of stress have emerged.  

 

 

ACTU President Ged Kearney noted, "Work is bleeding into the rest of a worker’s life, and we do not have the means of recognizing or dealing with this in a way that suits workers. Instead we have an increase in stress and insecurity for workers. This is particularly the case for people in casual jobs, who fear they will lose shifts if they do not comply. Business is shifting more and more financial risk and responsibility onto the workforce. We have a 'productivity squeeze,' meaning that we are achieving productivity through unpaid work and greater pressure on (our) workers. It is a wake-up call at a time when we are saturated with urging from employer and business groups about the need to effectively take away more rights and reduce pay and conditions to improve productivity and flexibility."(WCxKit)

 

 

The Census found:

 

4.   58 percent have paid for work-related expenses and not been compensated.

 

 

The Census also found many workers were concerned about job security, with 22.3 percent of respondents saying the issue as among their greatest concern and one in seven (14.3 percent) of employed census respondents were in a form of non-permanent work arrangement.  And one in six (16.5 percent) respondents said they were in non-permanent work part time arrangements because they could not find full time work. (WCxKit)

 

 

It has confirmed the existence in the modern Australian workplace of three distinct groups: women aged 45-54 who are juggling caring responsibilities for children and parents while continuing to work full-time; men aged 45-64 who cannot find permanent work because they are told they are too old; and workers under 25 years old who are employed and living out of their home, facing labor market and financial stress because of insecure and unstructured work.

 

 

Posted in Safety and Loss Control, Union Issues, WC 101, WC in Other Countries (International) |

An Australian dock worker was found guilty of workers compensation fraud after a WorkCover investigation found that he had lied about working up to 50 hours a week as a security guard while being too injured to carry out his first job, according to a report from Work Cover Authority of New South Wales.

 

 

Ronald Perrine, a 46-year-old store man from Welby, west of Wollongong, received a suspended jail sentence, was ordered to repay almost $20,000, and was fined $1500. Perrine alleged that in September 2000 his left wrist had become too damaged to continue working after repeatedly driving a forklift. His employer accepted his claims and Perrine began receiving weekly compensation totaling $19,059.05 from August 2004 to April 2007. During this time, Perrine took on a second job as a security guard and was receiving cash payments in envelopes. (WCxKit)

 

 

The WorkCover investigation found Perrine had been dishonest on numerous occasions in deliberately misleading representatives acting to protect the Workers Compensation Scheme. Perrine said he was working around 12-16 hours a week when he was in fact working around 50 hours and not informing WorkCover. His pay slips and  group certificate did not reflect the true income he was receiving from his second job. These had the effect of pushing the compensation payments he was receiving through the Workers Compensation Fund.

 

 

WorkCover staff requested to interview Perrine during the investigation however the requests were declined. Perrine was prosecuted for offenses under the Crimes Act 1900.

 

 

The Court sentenced him to an eight month jail term, fully-suspended, and a 6-month good behavior bond. (WCxKit)

 

 

In addition, he was ordered to repay the $19,059.05 he had fraudulently received in compensation, fined him $1,500, and ordered to pay WorkCover’s legal costs.

Posted in Fraud and Abuse, WC in Other Countries (International) |

A major development company has been fined $350,000 for an "immense oversight" at the construction of a giant warehouse in Melbourne's southeast that led to the death of a man.

 

 

According to information from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, County Court judge Liz Gaynor said that John Parton's fate was sealed when Australand failed to oversee properly work being done at the Dandenong South site where he was killed when a steel frame collapsed. (WCxKit)

 

 

She said it was only luck that more men had not yet arrived for work when the structure, measuring 82 meters by 240 meters, crashed down on the 47-year-old Langwarrin man.

 

 

Gaynor said the steel frame had not been properly braced and a colleague with Mr. Parton narrowly escaped death or serious injury.

 

 

She said failing to ensure the partially built frame was braced was a "serious example" of an occupational health and safety breach that had resulted in the "massive collapse of a massive structure.”

 

 

Australand, the principal builder of the project and in charge of overseeing construction, was fined $350,000.

 

 

Australand had no prior convictions and Gaynor said it had shown remorse and taken immediate steps to improve safety on its projects.

 

 

Acting director of WorkSafe's construction and utilities team, Allan Beacom, said after the sentencing that temporary bracing on partially-built structures was integral to workplace safety.

 

 

“There are a surprisingly high number of structural failures where this simple step has not been done, and in every case, people are at risk," he said.

 

 

“The incident must act as a reminder to all that fundamental safety responsibilities must be adhered to." (WCxKit)

 

 

Charges against two other defendants in the case are yet to be heard.

 

 

Posted in Legal Doctrines, Medical Issues, Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

Following the electrocution death of an employee, an employer participating in the federal government’s subsidized home insulation program was fined $100,000 for unsafe workplace practices Queensland (Australia) Workplace Health and Safety.

 

 

Mitchell Sweeney, 22, died in February 2010 while working on the ceiling of a home at Millaa Millaa, south of Cairns. He was electrocuted when he stapled a metal fastener through the foil and into a live wire. (WCxKit)

 

 

Sweeney was working for Gold Coast Company Titans Insulation, a participant in the federal government’s subsidized home insulation program. Following Sweeney’s death, the company was charged with failing to conduct its business in an electrically safe way.

 

 

After initially indicating it would defend the charge, the company pleaded guilty in the Industrial Magistrates Court in Brisbane.

 

 

The court heard the company did implement a number of strategies aimed at employee safety, including distributing plastic staples to workers. However, the court said these strategies did not go far enough to mitigate risk of death or serious injury to employees because, for example, the employer failed to ensure the plastic staples were actually being used.

 

 

Prosecutor Andrew Herbert, representing Queensland Workplace Health and Safety, said it was true Titans provided some training to staff and gave a number of directives that they were not to use metal staples. (WCxKit)

‘‘There was a complete absence of a system for detecting and understanding whether the workers were in fact complying with the directions,’’ Herbert said. ‘‘Any cursory inspection of their work by Titans would have revealed exactly what was going on.’’

 

Posted in Litigation Management, Management Commitment, Risk Management, Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |

 

Australia’s Comcare has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from the Department of Defense after the department allegedly failed to observe its duties under federal workplace safety laws, according to a Comcare report.

 

 

The undertaking is a result of a Comcare investigation into an incident at Mt. Arapiles, Victoria, in March 2008 where a Special Forces reservist suffered a serious injury during a night-time military ropes training exercise.(WCxKit)

 

 

The reservist was required to rappel down a 100-meter (109.1 yards.) cliff face and was injured when he fell from the end of the rope to the ground at the base of the cliff face approximately five to eight meters (26.2 ft.) below. The rope was short due to the manner in which its anchor point was constructed at the top of the cliff.

 

 

The investigation found Defense failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety of its employees at work, including the reservist.

 

 

In response to the incident and the Comcare investigation, Defense has already taken steps to address safety deficiencies.

 

 

As part of the undertaking, defense is required to make a number of mandatory improvements to its military roping doctrine and training that deliver further benefits to the health and safety of its ADF Members.(WCxKit)

 

 

Comcare’s General Manager of Work Health and Safety, Neil Quarmby, said while these types of accidents should not happen, the changes made by Defense in its roping doctrine and training methods should ensure better and safer practices in the future.

 

Posted in Risk Management, Safety and Loss Control, WC in Other Countries (International) |