A mix of good and bad news came from a recent Western Australia WorkSafe proactive inspection program in the heavy machinery and scaffolding rental and hire industry.
WorkSafe inspectors conducted 35 inspections of hire companies in metropolitan and regional areas of WA across last financial year. According to WorkSafe Director Joe Attard, inspectors found some areas of very good safety practices, but also uncovered other areas that needed attention. Inspectors visited a total of 35 workplaces, issuing a total of 299 improvement notices.
“The good news is that hire industry associations are generally very proactive with regard to safety, and we are confident that they will look at the results of this program and make every effort to improve safety performance in the industry,” Attard commented.
According to Attard, “Hire companies generally take good care of the items they hire out, but there are real concerns about the level of safety in workshops and minimizing the risks to hire company employees. There is room for considerable improvement at these workplaces to prevent injuries to employees, especially those that occur as a result of manual tasks.
“The greatest number of notices – a total of 68 – related to breaches involving machinery and plant other than mobile plant. Disappointingly, 20 of these notices related to machinery guarding,” Attard stated. Attard went on to note that 53 notices related to hazardous substances – training, risk assessment, registers, labeling, health surveillance and so on were handed out.
Industry Sector Has High Number of Work-Related Injuries
“The project was initiated because this industry sector has a high number of work-related injuries, particularly lower back, finger, knee, ankle, shoulder and hand injuries. During 2009/10, a total of 3,679 days were lost to injury with an average of 43 days lost per injury,” Attard noted.
“A high number of these injuries occur as a result of poor management of manual handling tasks, and this inspection program had a strong focus on this type of injury, with employers provided with information on manual task risk factors, safe systems of work and adequate induction, training and supervision,” Attard added.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Principal, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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