From the Editor

With just 2 weeks left before the holidays, this will be the second last Connect News for this year.  We have included in this edition a new feature called ActFact. This feature will be included every week and will cover different parts of the Health & Safety Act and Regulations and what you can do to comply with this.

Thank you for your interest and have a safe week.

Recent Injuries & Incidents

Company fined after work accident leaves man a quadriplegic.

Broken Hill mining company Perilya has been fined $260,000 after an accident left a worker quadriplegic.

The Industrial Court of NSW ruled the miner pay $260,000 over the accident that happened in 2008.

Rod Flight, 50 at the time of the accident, was left quadriplegic after the front-end loader he was operating overturned, trapping him underneath.

Perilya pleaded guilty for failing to ensure the safety of its employee under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).

The court found Perilya's failure to properly maintain the vehicle meant its braking capacity was reduced, and a warning light and alarm failed to sound.

The company also failed to ensure staff did the correct safety paperwork.

There have been a spate of historical safety issues at the mine.

In January 2007, Jason Symonds was fatally injured whilst operating a remotely controlled load haul dump machine. Symonds became entrapped between the loader and the wall of the drawpoint access drive.

Perilya plead guilty, and were convicted of breaching the OHSA. The company was fined $130,000.

Later that year, in November 2007, a service technician fell 2.5 metres onto a concrete floor, suffering serious injuries to his right leg, including a broken femur.

The company also plead guilty to this charge, and was fined $115,000.

Safety Statistics for Australia 

Male employees recorded an incidence rate of 1.4 times that of female employees in 2005-06.

The number of workplace deaths this week in Australia.

 The number of workplace deaths this year in Australia as at 9 December 2013.

Quote of the week  

You are the key to safety success.

All health & safety systems rely on three core principles - Paperwork, processes and people. Generally, the first two - paperwork and processes are in place, but the third - People, rely on us to act and follow the paperwork and processes in place.

Download your FREE 'quote of the week' here

Safety Ideas & Videos

Asbestos: The Wittenoom Tragedy

This video includes the reflections of Dr Jim McNulty (former Commissioner for Health) concerning asbestos mining operations at Wittenoom which led to serious health problems for workers at the mine and residents in the town.

Providing systems that create peace of mind.

Environmental Systems - ISO 14001:2004

Health & Safety Systems - AS/NZS 4801:2001

Quality Systems - ISO 9001:2008