More than 3,500 Victorian backyard handymen and tradesmen, blinkered to the importance of proper eye protection, are risking blindness and suffering serious eye damage each year.

   The home DIY boom has seen metal fragments lodged in eyes become one of the common presentations at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, with grinding, drilling and welding causing most injuries. And a quarter of those fronting to the emergency department have been injured in the same way before, a new study from the Centre for Eye Research Australia has revealed. Many are having their eyeballs needled to remove “rust rings,” which can lead to infection and scarring when metal fragments react with tears to rust.

   The study analysed 100 consecutive patients presenting with metal fragments in their cornea in 2009. Almost half reported wearing safety glasses.

   A man was seriously injured when he was crushed by more than a tonne of plaster. Paramedics were called to a unit development in Bay Street, Port Melbourne.

   WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said a delivery driver, aged in his 70s, was crushed when a load of plasterboard came off his truck while it was being unloaded. He said the man was hit by two packs of plasterboard, with each sheet measuring about 3x1 metres.

   Paramedic Andrew burns said the man was in severe pain after several sheets of plaster fell on him. The injured man was taken to The Alfred hospital with injuries to his chest, abdomen and pelvis. He was in a serious but stable condition.

   Nearly 60,000 Victorian businesses are the big winners in this week’s State Budget, pocketing a WorkCover premium cut of about 10 per cent. Six out of 10 businesses will score an average premium cut of three per cent.

   The first company in Victoria to be convicted and fined for recklessly endangering a worker has lost an appeal against its sentence.

   In 2010, Orbit Drilling Pty Ltd pleaded guilty and was convicted and fined $750,000 over the death of 21-year-old Bradley Alford at Clonbinane.

   Company director Martin Smith was also fined $120,000 after he admitted the firm had breached its duty of care towards its employees.

   Mr Alford was crushed to death on December 9, 2006, when he lost control of the Mack truck he was driving on a steep slope and it became airborne, bounced several times and overturned. He was thrown from the cabin as the truck rolled and was killed on impact.

  He had been working for the company – which performed drilling work for mining company Agincourt – for just over a week and had completed only 11 hours of driving lessons.

    According to expert evidence in the case, a qualified and properly-trained driver, driving a properly-maintained Mack truck, would have been capable  if performing this task. But, Mr Alford was untrained, and the truck was unroadworthy because its brakes were defective.

   A man in his 30s has been killed in a forklift accident at Preston, in Melbourne’s north. Police say the man was unloading a scissor and forklift when he has been crushed between the two pieces of machinery. The man was discovered dead at the factory in Chifley Drive.

   Police and WorkSafe investigators will prepare a report for the coroner. WorkSafe Victoria spokesman Michael Birt says it’s the fifth work place death this year. “Work safe has investigators and inspectors heading to the site in Preston,” he said. “They’ll be talking to a wide range of people looking at the systems of work and trying to understand exactly what’s happened.”

WorkSafe says it is lucky no one was killed when scaffolding tumbled onto a busy Prahran street three years ago. Three people were injured when the scaffolding collapsed onto Commercial Road after being altered and overloaded with bricks.
The construction company, Asian Pacific Building Corporation, has been fined $170,000 over the incident.
WorkSafe director Allan Beacom says it could have been much worse. “There was public involved, there was a tram, there was a bus going by, and the fact that the collapse happened at smoko time when most of the workers were not on the scaffold, is just sheer luck,” he said. “We could be standing here today discussing a multiple fatality.” Mr Beacom says the $170,000 fine is significant, and reflects the seriousness of the offence.

A truck driver who continued to receive compensation benefits for a workplace injury but took up work elsewhere has been ordered to repay almost $27,000 and perform 100 hours of unpaid community work.

In the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court, Nathan Higgins, of Melton, pleaded guilty to one charge of fraudulently obtaining payments and three charges of providing false or misleading information. Mr Higgins was a self employed truck driver when he suffered a workplace injury to his left hand in January 2009. Despite continuing to receive compensation payments for his injury and stating he was unfit to work or could only work on modified duties, Mr Higgins took up a job as a bus driver from August 2009 to July 2010.

A young plumber was badly burned when a faulty gas bottle erupted in flames less than two months after a 25- year-old tradesman died in a huge gas blast.

Troy Taliana, 22, believes he is lucky to be alive and the accident has raised questions about WorkSafe after it emerged the safety watchdog did not issue a warning about the defective gas bottle, although it had been recalled by its manufacturer.

Mr Taliana was installing a solar hot water service at a new housing estate in Lalor on February 9 when he had his brush with death. “I screwed the head on to the bottle and it burst into flames in my hands,” he said. Mr Taliana spent two weeks in The Alfred hospital’s burns unit. His mother Judy, who helps run the plumbing business, was furious to discover that although the MAP gas cylinders manufactured by Worthington were first recalled in January, WorkSafe had not issued an alert.

      A secret review of Victoria’s WorkCover and transport accident compensation systems is under way and the State Government is refusing to make public any details of the inquiry. Despite no public announcement of the review, the Government confirmed it had asked the Essential Services Commission to conduct a root and branch inquiry into the Victorian WorkCover Authority (which also operates as WorkSafe) and the Transport Accident Commission. But it refused to release details, drawing fire from the business community. A Government spokesman said the inquiry was in line with the Coalition’s 2010 election policy to improve the “efficiency and transparency” of the organisations. Asked why the inquiry’s terms of reference had not been made public, the spokesman said: “This is a government request for internal advice, not a comprehensive public review.”

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is to consider charges against an air-conditioning company after an employee fell from a faulty ladder while working on a Southbank development site. Coroner Kim Parkinson referred the case to the DPP after finding that the ladder on which Keith Dickman had been working was defective and unstable from modifications and irregular replacement parts.

Ms Parkinson also found that a statement about safe work practices was “inadequate and incomplete,” in that it did not identify the risk of fall from ladders and that the employer, All staff Air-conditioning Pty Ltd, failed to supervise adequately the wearing of safety equipment. Mr Dickman, 56, was installing air-conditioning ducting on the eighth level of a development at Freshwater Place when he fell off the ladder. As he fell, he tried to grab the ceiling grid, but it flicked him in the face and injured him. Ms Parkinson heard in the inquest that one of the ladder’s feet was damaged, and folding braces were faulty and deteriorated. She was critical of the company’s statement on safe work practices, describing it as “limited and superficial” and failed to “identify the most basic of risk factors in the work being performed.”

An injured worker, who was rescued from a high-rise construction site in the Docklands, dislocated his shoulder by throwing his arms out as he fell through a hole in the top floor of the building, according to paramedics. A crane was used to lower the 21-yearold man from the rooftop of the Aurecon Centre construction site, on the corner of Collins and Merchant streets, to the ground.

Ambulance Victoria paramedic team manager Rachelle Pellow said the man’s quick-thinking had stopped him from crashing right through the eighth storey floor. Fire crews, including members of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s High Angle Rescue Team helped retrieve the man. Ms Pellow said a scoop stretcher was used to get the man from the eighth floor to the rooftop where he was moved to a rescue cage and then lowered to the ground with the crane. The man was taken to Epworth Hospital in a stable condition.

A food manufacturer has appeared in court over an incident that left a worker with a crushed hand after it was caught in a machine. George Weston Foods Limited was convicted and fined $50,000 at the Castlemaine Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to one count of failing to provide a safe plant.

The court heard the incident happened when a woman was packing frankfurts on a processing machine at the company’s Castlemaine smallgoods plant, which trades as Don KRC, on 30 July 2010. The worker suffered crush injuries and burns to her hand when it was trapped between a hot plate and the top of the machine.

A roof tiling company’s failure to install fall protection on a Rowville house which resulted in an apprentice falling and losing sight in one eye, has been fined. WorkSafe told Dandenong Magistrate Gerard Bryant that on 13 March 2010, the director of DC Tiling, three apprentices and a sub-contractor were replacing roof tiles on a stormdamaged house. An apprentice was carrying buckets of cement up a ladder to the roof where the director was working lost his footing and fell to the ground. Although he was not injured from the fall, wet cement splashed into his eye.The injured apprentice was later driven to hospital and lost sight in his left eye.

The 2010 incident led to a WorkSafe investigation, prosecution and a $7,500 fine imposed on the company DC Roof Tiling by the Dandenong Magistrates Court on 16 February.

A study of 400,000 employees in Victoria found one in four are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease. The WorkSafe study shows more than 90 per cent of workers do not eat enough fruit or vegetables and almost 70 per cent do not get enough exercise.

WorkSafe told more than 4,000 workers to see their GP immediately because of high blood pressure or blood glucose levels.

   A magistrate has fined a small building company after a worker became a paraplegic as a result of a four metre fall. The incident occured at Keysborough in June 2011. Kilsyth - based company, Mayneline Pty Ltd was convicted, fined $60,000 and ordered to pay court costs of $2,894.52.
   The court was told Mayneline's workers were replacing the burnt-out roof of the Keysborough house when it began to rain, causing them to rush to make the house weatherproof. The injured man's supervisor told WorkSafe inspectors that he had watched the injured man climb onto the frame of the house immediately before it fell. It was at this point that the 27 year old Warnambool man lost his grip on the truss, slipped off the wet timber on whioch he was standing, and fell four metres down an unprotected stairwell void.
   As a result of the fall, he suffered a punctuated lung, broken ribs, a fractured wrist and a serious laceration to the head. He also suffered three broken vertebrae.

   A man has suffered serious burns after being sprayed with boiling tallow in a factory in Melbourne's west. The 41 year old received burns to his face, neck and hands when a pipe he was trying to unblock burst in laverton North.
   Ambulance victoria said the man was taken to The Alfred hospital in a serious condition. Intensive care paramedics Andrew Loughseed said the man was trying to unblock a pipe when the ladder he was on slipped and a pressure valve in the pipe was tornn off. He believed the liquid was a mixture of fat and water, heated to 140 degrees.. "His colleagues put the man in the shower to help cool the burns before we arrived," he said.

   Hundreds of workers were evacuated from a meat rendering plant in Melbourne's west when a machine that crushes animal bones into powder caught fire. Managers at the Tasman Meat Group in Brooklyn ordered the evacuation of 800 workers when the fire, believed to be caused by sparks in the machine, broke out. A male supervisor in his 50's suffered slight burns to his arm and was treated by first - aid officers on site. Fire officials said no one else was injured and paramedics were not called.
   MFB Commander Frank Besanko said an electro-static spark from the bone-crushing machine was the most likely cause of the fire. The machine is responsible for grinding meat and bone together to create a fine powder like talcum which is then used for chicken pellets and other pet food, he said. "When the powder is tipped into a heated drum it can cause an electror -static spark", he said.
   Commander Besanko said fires in the grinding machines were not uncommon and that he had witnessed one before at a factory in Laverton. A spokeswoman for the MFB said WorkCover would be investigating the incident.

   Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has vowed to cut red tape volunteer groups fear will drive them to the wall under new workplace safety laws.
   Mr Shorten, after crisis talks in Melbourne with volunteer organisations, admitted more work was needed to clarify the effect on their activities of national Occupational Health and Safety laws. He has also established a stakeholder working group to tackle the red tape many volunteer groups fear may drive up administrative costs and make unviable some small scale charitable operations, such as regional Meels on Wheels services.
   Mr Shorten said the new OHS laws "codify existing common law to ensure that volunteers undertake their activities in safety and will not depart from current practice for volunteer organisations. Our latest discussions and new co-operative efforts will improve clarity of responsibilities and address lingering confusion."

   A Geelong business has been convicted and fined $6,000 over an incident that left a chef with a broken arm after her sleeve became caught in an unguarded machine. GT 10 Geelong Pty Ltd, which operates "The Groove Train" restaurant in Geelong, was fined in the Geelong Magistrates' Court after it pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe plant for its employees. The court heard the chef was preparing pizza dough using a large unguarded mixer on 2 August 2010 when her sleeve became caught in the machine's rotating hook. The worker suffered a broken left arm and muscle damage.

   A construction worker suffered multiple broken bones when two brick walls fell on him in Melbourne's south-east. The 42 year old suffered a suspected collapsed lung and broke his pelvis, right leg, ribs and fingers in the building site accident in Caufield North.
   Intensive care paramedic Rowan Harman said it took 30 minutes for paramedics and workers at the site to free the man, who was trapped under a pile of bricks. Mr Harman said it appeared a domino effect had caused the brick walls to come crashing down. "It appeared that a three-metre high brick wall collapsed on him, which knocked an adjacent wall that subsequently fell on him also," he said. The man was taken to The Alfred hospital in a serious condition.

   Two companies have each been fined $100,000 over a farm incident that killed a worker who was run over by a reversing tractor. Labour hire company, Nikolic Pty Ltd and the operators of the Werribee South vegetable farm, A.M & P. Zhangi Pty Ltd, were prosecuted by WorkSafe at the Sunshine Magistrates' Court.
   Both companies pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to provide a safe workplace and failing to provide proper training and supervision to workers. The 62 - year old worker who died was employed by Nikolic Pty Ltd to work at the farm for one to two days a week. He had only been working there for two months when the incident happened on 23rd November 2009. The court was told the worker and two others were sitting on the back of a trailer attached to a tractor and returning to a shed. The man who died jumped off the trailer just before it reversed into a loading bay at the shed, but fell on to his hands and knees and could not get up and move out of the way in time. 

   A former head of Victoria's workplace insurance scheme has publicly blasted the Baillieu Government over its plan to strip the scheme of almost $500 million in a bid to keep the state budget in surplus. James MacKenzie, who was on the board of the WorkCover Authority for a decade until this year, has accused the Government of conducting a "straightforward raid" on Victorian employers who pay premiums to the authority to insure against workplace accidents.
   He was responding to last week's announcement by stste Treasurer Kim Wells that WorkCover - now known as WorkSafe  - will have to hand over half its annual profits from insurance operations to prop up the state coffers. The change, which will also require changes to the Accident Compensation Act, will result in $471.5 million being paid by WorkCover into General Government revenue over four years. Mr MacKenzie said that any profit made by the authority had to be put back into either lowering premiums for employers, in better payments to injured workers, or to make workplaces safer.

WorkSafe made 10 visits to the Southern Star Observation Wheel at Docklands in the 12months leading up to an incident early this month. A "non-disturbance notice" issued by WorkSafe for the wheel site expired on Tuesday 06th December but the state secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union, Bill Oliver said "safety concerns around the Docklands wheel remain - after it almost killed workers the week before."

   A glue manufacturing company has been convicted and fined $90,000 after an investigation into a chemical leak at their Thomastown factory found there was no operational vapour system in place to deal with the spill. Bostik Australia Pty Ltd was fined in the County Court after pleading guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace earlier this month. The incident happened on 20 June 2007 when a highly flammable and corrosive chemical ( Butylamine) escaped from a tank at the company's Thomastown site, exposing workers to the risk of dangerous chemical inhalation. Judge Wilmoth convicted and fined the company $90,000. 

The head of a Country Fire Authority investigation into the use of toxic chemicals at its Fiskville training college has denied he has a conflict of interest. Prof Rob Joy and CFA chief excecutive Mick Bourke worked together at the environment Protection Authority. The United Firefighters Union criticised Prof Joy's appointment because of the pair's relationship. Prof Joy is quite adamant there was no conflict of interest in him taking on the role.
"The public service in Victoria does lend itself to being interconnected," he explained. "We worked together for about 14 or 15 months. We had a collegiate relationship, we weren't friends. Since then we have had the odd contact at conferences." Prof Joy said he would not have taken the job on if he thought there was a conflict of interest.
The terms of reference of Prof Joy's inquiry, expected to deliver a report before March 31, did not include an examination of whether there was a link between the chemicals used at the site and the illnesses of people who worked there. Prof Joy said that his report was a preliminary investigation that might lead to further studies.

   A lightening strike could be to blame after a petrol tanker exploded leaving the driver lucky to be alive. Fire crews averted a disaster when the tanker, which was carrying more than 20,000 litres of fuel, burst into flames at the Caltex service station in Rowville during an electrical storm.

   Country Fire Authority crews arrived to find fire stretching 150 metres from the service station to nearby Stamford Inn. Two cars were engulfed by flames and another was damaged. The 35 year old truck driver was seriously burned and was in a serious but stable condition at the Alfred Hospital. Up to 100 CFA firefighters tackled the inferno at the intersection of Wellington and Stud roads. Arson squad detectives are investigating.

A Geelong restumping firm was convicted and fined $40,000 over an incident that seriously injured its owner who was trapped under a house which was being re-stumped. Vollebregt House Restumping pleaded guilty to one count of failing to provide a safe workplace. The owner of Vollebregt House Restumping, who was working under a house in Maude street, Geelong when it fell from hydraulic jacks used to lift it, was trapped face down and suffered significant injuries including a broken pelvis.

A Melbourne glue manufacturer has pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace, after a large tank of chemicals leaked into its factory. The 600 – litre tank released a flow of corrosive chemicals into Bostik’s factory in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown in 2007.

Worker Craig Cole suffered extensive burns to his body and four other workers inhaled the toxic substance. The Victorian County court heard Bostik faces fines of more than $960,000. The company will be sentenced at a later date.

  An international delivery company which failed to address an improvement notice issued by WorkSafe to help improve safety conditions for its workers has been fined $15,000. FedEx Australia has appeared at the Werribee Magistrates’ Court, pleading guilty to failing to provide a safe workplace and failing to comply with an improvement notice.

   WorkSafe inspectors issued an improvement notice at the company’s Derrimut site in July 2009 after they noticed workers were unloading and loading packages from steel cages in an awkward position that exposed them to risk of musculoskeletal injuries, the court was told. The company had four months to comply with the notice, but when WorkSafe returned to the site in December 2009, they found the notice had not been complied with and work was being carried out in the exact same way.

   WorkSafe inspectors will visit workplaces as part of a six months blitz targeting the way workers operate machinery in a bid to reduce hazardous manual handling injuries. WorkSafe will visit up to 1,000 Victorian manufactures looking at all aspects of their work including: how materials are stored, transported and loaded into machines; machine operators' posture when using machines and how the product is retreived from the machines.
   Worksafe figures show that injurioes to machine operators resulted in more than 700 claims for manual handling last financial year. The average claim cost $52,000 in treatment and rehabilatation costs alone. WorkSafe's Manufacturing, Logistics and Agriculture Director, Ross Pilkington said slips, trips, falls and manual handling tasks - which involves handling boxes, bags and parts, production work and lifting - accounted for 53 per cent of all claims.

   WorkSafe has ceased work at the Southern Star Observation Wheel following an incident at the site that caused the wheel to rotate. WorkSafe has begun an investigation into the incident. It is understood slings attached to temporary holding points on the wheel have somehow detatched, allowing the wheel to turn uncontrollably.
   The cause of the incident remains unclear, however, WorkSafe visited the site after the incident and have launched an investigation into the matter. A non-disturbance notice has been issued at the site, ceasing work until a safe system of work is in place.

   WorkSafe officers  have inspected the CFA's Fiskville training college after a newspaper investigation revealing up to 15 deaths may be linked to the site.
   The Worksafe visit comes as the CFA launched its own investigation into the use of dangerous chemicals at the site during the 1970's and 80's.

  In other developments: former Environment Protection Authority deputy chairman Rob Joy was announced as chair of CFA investiagtion into the chemicals used at Fiskville; the CFA advised it will cooperate with any WorkSafe investigations; an email account was set up for concerned families to log reports of possible health problems; and CFA commanders promised they will make every effort to get to the bottom of the allegations and reassured current workers and visitors to Fiskville the site is now safe.

   A road worker has died after being struck by a street sweeper in Melbourne's east. The man, in his 40's was carrying out road maintenance at a work site on Canterbury Road at Bayswater North when the street sweeper reversed over him.
   A fellow road worker raised the alarm but the man died before paramedics arrived. WorkSafe has seized the street sweeper and are still investigating the incident. The police will prepare a report on the man's death for the coroner.

   A man has died after he was pinned to a wall by a truck in an industrial accident in Melbourne's northwest. It is believed the man, aged in his 40's, reached into the driver's side of the truck and turned on the ignition when it rolled forward, pinning him to a wall.
   Emergency workers attended the warehouse on Industrial Drive, Westmeadows and freed the man. He died at the scene. Police and WorkSafe investigators are at the scene and will prepare a report for the coroner.

   WorkSafe construction inspectors are staging a pre-Christmas blitz of domestic housing sites in Melbourne's west from 8th December. 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 basic issues like fall protection, electrical safety, housekeeping, site security and supervision are consistently not being dealt with by employers and tradespeople". "Inspectors will be issuing safety improvement and prohibition notices during this campaign and if they're not dealt with, the risk of prosecution, whether or not someone is hurt, is high."
  

   Victorian business operators are being urged to be wary of "cold callers" offering health and safety services after a formal warning was issued against a company selling safety products.
   The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the warning alleging the company made false or misleading representations concerning the need for workplace safety materials and/or harassment or coercion. The alleged conduct may have contravened the Trade Practices Act (1974) or the Australian Consumer Law, the ACCC warned.
   WorkSafe's advisory service frequently received calls about a variety of cold callers who make claims about the need for businesses to take advantage of a range of products and services including safety signs, publications and first aid courses.

   Ambulance Victoria is warning people to take more care with their tools after four were injured in power saw accidents across Melbourne.
   In one incident, advanced life-support paramedics were called to the cockatoo residence of a 71 year old man after he suffered a severe cut to his leg from a power saw. Paramedic on the scene Nikki Riddiford said the man had been sitting down while using the power saw and it had slipped. The man was taken to Dandenong Hospital in a stable condition.
   Paramedics in Port Melbourne also treated two men injured in accidents involving power saws, both within four hours of each other. A 21 year old man sliced his forehead open when a saw kicked back and the guard struck him in the face at his Port Melbourne work site, while in another incident a 44 year old man cut his leg.

   A labour hire company has been convicted and fined $50,000 over an incident that left a worker with serious injuries after his arm was crushed in a machine. Skilled Group Ltd pleaded guilty to one count of failing to provide a safe workplace at the Sunshine Magistrates Court. The injured worker was an employee of Skilled Group Ltd, but was assigned to work at the pampas factory in Footscray when the incident happened on September 5, 2009.
   The court was told the worker was cleaning a dough extruder when it suddenly activated, trapping and dragging the man's arm into the rollers of the machine. The fire brigade needed to attend to free him. The man suffered serious injuries as a result of the incident, has been unable to work since, wears a sling and suffers constant pain in his left arm.

   Charges steaming from two workplace incidents have left a colac timber firm with a conviction and $70,000 fine. It has been revealed that Associated Kiln Driers - trading as AKD Softwoods - received more than 100 safety improvement notices in less than a decade.
   The company this week pleaded guilty to two charges arising from 2009 incidents. These related to AKD Softwoods not complying with a safety improvement notice for more than five months after its due date and not having safe systems of work.
   A WorkSafe inspector issued three safety improvement notices after a man fell three metres from a mezzanine floor in June 2009. He was not hurt. Two of the notices required barriers to stop people falling more than two metres. The third required AKD Softwoods to provide appropriate safety supervision. The second charge stemmed from November 2009 when a worker was hurt by a robotic arm that injured his arm and pelvis.
   Magistrate Stephen Myall heard AKD Softwoods had received 117 safety improvement or prohibition notices since 2001. The firm was convicted and fined $50,000 in 2007 following WorkSafe prosecutions relating to inadequate traffic management  and conveyer guarding.

   Workers at a cold storage facility in Melbourne's southeast were evacuated after a leak of toxic ammonia at the premises. The ammonia flooded the ceiling space at Bidvest in Clayton Rd, Clayton South, requireing firefighters to don fully encapsulated suits to gain access into the area.
   A site engineer managed to close off one valve but could not get to the primary shut - off valve located within the ceiling space. A community warning was issued to alert residents to the ammonia leak and to stay indoors and keep windows closed. The leak was closed off three hours later. Thirty firefighters were involved in the operation.

   A Geelong Business which failed to properly guard machines resulting in three workers suffering serious injuries within months has been convicted and fined $160,000. Timbertruss Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court to three charges of failing to provide a safe workplace and failing to provide training and supervision to employees. The three employees suffered serious crush injuries in seperate incidents over four months.

   A former worksafe employee, who was sacked hours after she lodged a compensation claim for bullying is suing the workplace safety authority. Jillian Ramsden, a former commercial health adviser, is seeking compensation in the Federal Court after settlement negotiations broke down. 
   Ms Ramsden was sacked in July and has claimed she was subjected to relentless bullying over several months, including the withholding of crucial work information, exclusion from workplace events and verbal abuse in front of other employees.
   Her lawyers, Maurice Blackburn, said she was sacked just after lodging a work cover stress claim following advice from her doctor. Ms Ramsden said she was taking WorkSafe to court to expose its toxic workplace culture, saying the bullying had left her depressed, humiliated and anxious. "I had no support and there is a widespread culture of fear if you speak up," she said.
   An investigation revealed allegations that worksafe had a culture of widespread bullying, sparking calls for an independant enquiry. Senior WorkSafe staff know of eight bullying-related complaints that are before, or heading to, Fair Work Australia.

   A 49 year old man has made a lucky escape after being crushed in a workplace accident in Melbourne's west. The accident occured while the man was operating a cherry picker machine in an Altona North factory.
   Paramedic Stephen Aitken said the man was somehow crushed between the cherry picker and a metal beam. When paramedics arrived, they found the man's colleagues performing CPR on him, which is believed to have helped save his life. "They found him and freed him and had to carry him out of the area which had asbestos in it," Mr Aitken said.
   The man suffered a collapsed lung so paramedics inserted a large needle into his chest, which cleared trapped air and blood in his chest cavity and allowed his lung to reinflate. CPR was continued and paramedics gave the man adrenaline to stimulate his heart. He was taken to the Alfred hospital and remains in a critical but stable condition.

   A truck driver became impaled on a fence spike nearly two metres above the ground when he tried to leap over the barrier to retrieve his keys in Melbourne's west.
   Colleagues of the 30 year old man had to hold him aloft until emergency service workers arrived at the depot in Spotswood to cut him free. He was taken to the Alfred hospital with the 30cm fence spike still piercing his leg and was due to undergo surgery.
   Paramedics were called to the depot in Melbourne Road and found the man in significant pain. He is believed to have lost his keys and was jumping the fence to retrieve them when the accident occured. Metropolitan Fire Brigade crews cut the fence, leaving the spike still in the man's leg.

   Forcing Victorian building workers to undergo compulsory drug and alcohol testing would be "enormously harmful" and counterproductive, drug support groups have warned, after a decision in Fair Work Australia endorsed the practice. Both Harm Reduction Victoria and the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League said they were "extremely concerned" by the tribunal decision, warning of privacy issues , that users could shift to harder drugs to avoid detection and the high costs of testing.

   "It is very likely to just drive people underground, away from the information and support and towards high-risk practices as they try to avoid the punitive impact of a positive drug screen at work," said Jenny Kelsall from Harm Reduction Victoria, a support and advocacy group. The decision backed an appeal by contractors Thiess and Wagstaff Piling to earlier decisions that ruled out mandatory testing as it was not part of workplace agreements with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union in Victoria.

   The dairy company Fonterra has been fined $300,000 for the death of a worker two years ago. John Harrap was killed when bulk bags of salt fell on him at the Fonterra plant at Stanhorpe near Shepparton in September 2009.
   Last month the company pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace. Fonterra was convicted and fined in the Melbourne County Court. Worksafe Victoria says the firm have made big changes to its storage system.

   A man has been flown from Ballarat to hospital in Melbourne after being crushed between a truck and concrete panels. WorkSafe is investigating the incident at a concrete panel manufacturing plant at Delacombe. It is understood the 27 year old was guiding the truck as it reversed to take delivery of the panels.
   The incident comes at the start of Worksafe week which features briefings and workshops around Victoria. Marking the start of WorkSafe Week, WorkSafe's General Manager for Operations, Lisa Sturzenegger said common safety failings involving routine tasks caused the majority of workplace injuries and deaths.

   A Bendigo school teacher was crushed when glass sliding doors collapsed in a classroom. The 47 year old man suffered a broken pelvis and abdominal injuries in the mishap. Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said three men had to lift the four heavy doors off the teacher. Paramedic Richard Marchingo said the teacher had fallen into the doors while moving them and was left lying in shattered glass. The man was taken in a serious but stable condition to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. WorkSafe is investigating the incident. 

   A serial offender prosecuted by WorkSafe for the fourth time told an inspector a potentially life-saving fall protection was "at home" while two of his sub- contractors installed a roof and gutters on a house in December ladt year. Paul Anthony Friend, who operates 'Latrobe Roofing and Spouting Services' in the Geelong region has accumulated more than $65,000 in fines for safety law breaches since 2001. Last week, he was again convictedand fined $18,321 for not providing fall protection to contractors working for him.
   A WorkSafe inspector went to a property in Manifold Heights, Geelong last December after receiving a tip-off that workers appeared to be working at height without fall protection. The inspector ordered the subcontractors off the roof and when Mr Friend came to the site he said his perimeter guard railing was at home.

   Following the death of an 11 year old boy on a quad bike yesterday in Numurkah ,WorkSafe are highlighting the need for farmers to wear helmets. Worksafe spokesman Michael Birt said it was believed the quad bike overturned as the boy helped move cattle. Under Victoria's work safety laws, helmets must be worn while riding quad bikes.The compulsory use of helmets and anti-crush devices on quad bikes were the subject of a safety campaign by regulators earlier this year.
   "We really need the wider rural community to get on top of this issue of helmet use, because unfortunately they can make a real difference in many situations, " Mr Birt said. "The tragedy is that someone dies or suffers permanent injuries."

   Almost $15m of taxpayers money was spent last year in spying on Victorians who say they were injured at work or on the roads. Worksafe and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) blame the burgeoning bill on the growth in legal claims.
   Figures obtained by Freedom of Information show that in 2010 - 11, Worksafe spent $13.7 million watching 6,675 people claiming benefits. The cost was more than $1.2million above the previous year's bill for watching 6,217 people, but it prosecuted just 18 cases of fraud. In 2010-11 the TAC spent more than $809,000 on surveillance in 501 claims about a 70 percent rise in spying and spending on 2009-10.

   The mouse plague that spans four states has prompted a warning from WorkSafe to beware of falling hay bales. WorkSafe Victoria says the rodents are digging into and eating the stacks, making them unstable. Farmers are being urged to move one bale at a time and to be aware that other layers may shift or collapse. WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt says falling hay bales can cause serious injuries.

   Two men had a miraculous escape after being crushed by tonnes of metal sheeting at a North Geelong warehouse.
Contractors from a Melbourne - based labour-hire firm were recovering in the Alfred Hospital after being pinned to a container wall by tonnes of four metre long aluminium sign boards.
   One man aged 29 suffered a broken leg and pelvic injuries, and a 20 year old man has pelvic and abdominal injuries, after a pallet pinned workers inside a shipping container outside CPH Graphic supplies in Duoro St. The pair were trapped from the waist down, with more than a dozen SES volunteers and several firefighters working to free them.
   The 20 year old was pulled from the container after more than half an hour with serious injuries, while his workmate was freed 15 minutes later. They were taken by ambulance to North Geelong High School, where they were flown to The Alfred, both in a serious condition.
   South Barwon SES spokesman Scott Clark said crews worked through a complex rescue situation, using the jaws of life, hydraulic rams and air bags to lift the aluminium sheeting from the injured men.

   The dairy company, Fonterra has pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe environment, after the death of a worker two years ago. John Harrap was killed when bags of salt fell on him at Fonterra's plant at Stanhope near Shepparton, in September 2009.
   The Victorian County Court sitting in Shepparton criticised Fonterra for allowing the large bags to be stacked three high and said it was lucky there had been no other incidents. The defence said Fonterra had changed its policy and had now prohibited the stacking of bulk bags.It said the company had a strong social conscience and was supporting Mr Harrap's family. The prosecution called for Fonterra to be fined between $250 and $30,000. The company will be sentenced in Melbourne on October 17.

   A man has been rescued from a freezer where he had been trapped after a forklift accident in  Melbourne's west. Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley said the worker had been taken to hospital with a minor knee injury after the accident at Laverton North. 
   The man was trapped inside the freezer, which had a temperature of -24 degrees, for about an hour. Mr Bentley said the man had been in a forklift with a heated cabin when the forklift overturned. It was unclear how the man became trapped. He was taken to Sunshine Hospital in a stable condition.

   Lengthy gaol terms for workplace and cyber bullying will be considered by the nation's chief law makers after a teenage waitress conmitted suicide following relentless abuse at a Melbourne Cafe. The standing commitee of attorneys - general will examine criminal penalties of up to 10 years' gaol modelled on the Victorian legislative package that altered stalking provisions and was known as "Brodie's Law."
   Brodie Panlock was a 19 year old waitress at a now defuct cafe in the inner Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn who killed herself in 2006 after co-workers abused her, spat on her and poured beer on her head. She was also offered rat poison after her first attempt at suicide, in what was one of the nation's worst ever cases of workplace abuse.
   Victorian Attorney-General robert Clark said the need for a national response to the problem would be discussed at the standing comittee in November.

   Two Melbourne men have been fined $1,500 each for planking at their workplace in Bayswater, Melbourne's east. Cameron Denbesten, 28 and Stewart Kift 49, were fired in May after they took photos of each other laying down in dangerous positions in a warehouse where they worked.

   They were photographed planking on top of a spray booth and across forklift tines and the pictures were posted on Facebook. The magistrate said their good records meant they were entitiled to a second chance.

   WorkSafe Victoria charged the men under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which requires employees to take responsible care of their own safety in the workplace. WorkSafe prosecutor Patrick McQuillen said he was happy with the outcome. He said WorkSafe spent over $2 million on injury claims resulting from people falling from a height at work.

   A Construction worker who blinded an apprentice worker after shooting him with a nail gun will not have to go to gaol. Twenty-one year old Joshua Bamford was convicted and sentenced to a four month intensive corrections order after he pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering a person in his workplace.
   Bamford worked for No Worries Roofing in May 2009 when he fired a nail gun at then 18- year old apprentice, Travis Skewes. The court was told Bamford was standing on the roof of a house when he pointed the gun at Mr Skewes and pulled the safety catch back. Mr Skewes ran behind a ute parked on the building site but when he stood up again Bamford fired the nail gun at him. A nail hit Mr Skewes in the eye and bounced out. The injury left Mr Skewes blind in his left eye.Magistrate John Bentley noted the injuries could have been a lot worse, including possible brain damage, when sentencing Bamford.
    The lawyer for WorkSafe, Peter Matthews, said Bamford had used the nail gun as a weapon. The day after the incident Bamford gave a hand - written statement to his boss in which he apologised for the act.

   A Tullamarine company has been fined $50,000 after two men suffered serious injuries to their hands in Februaury 2009. Willow Ware Australia Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to one charge laid under the Occupational Health and safety Act.
   The Melbourne Magistrates court was told two men were installing a switch on a machine which activated and caused crushing injuries to the men's hands. While hydraulic air hoses had been removed from the area being worked on, this was not sufficient to fully isolate the machine and prevent it from causing injury. Worksafe's General Manager (Operations) for Health and safety, Lisa Sturzenegger, said not ensuring machinery was made safe before it was worked on was a frequent cause of serious injury. Apart from it's $50,000 fine, Willow Ware was ordered to pay court costs of $9,399.02.

   Two companies have been convicted and fined over an incident in Melbourne's North. The man sustained serious injuries after falling nearly four metres from an unguarded conveyor belt. The man suffered a broken leg, wrist and thumb aswell as serious back injuries and was hospitalised for 13 weeks after the fall on 13th September 2005.
   The man was an employee of Roan Services Pty Ltd and a deemed employee of Future Universal Waste Services Pty Ltd (formerly SKM Recycling Pty Ltd). He was working at a Coolaroo site operated by Future Universal Waste Services Pty Ltd when the incident occured. A Worksafe investigation found the conveyor had no handrails nor fall protection for workers engaged in the task of clearing the conveyor at the time of the incident.
   Both companies pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court to count each of failing to provide a safe working environment. Future Universal Waste Services was convicted and fined $75,000 and Roan Services was convicted and fined $35,000.

   A farmer on a vegetable farm in Pearcedale in Melbourne's south east is lucky to be alive after being run over by a tractor on the weekend. The tractor was moving slowly when the 49 year old stepped off to check seed dispensers, but it appears he slipped on the step and was run over by the tractor which weighed nearly 3 tonnes. While the tractor's back wheel went over him, the man appears to have escaped serious injuries due to the soft ground. He was able to call for help quickly because he had his phone on him.
   It was the second serious incident involving a tractor in Victoria in a matter of days. A man was trapped under a rolled tractor south of Ballarat for 18 hours before he was rescued. His machine did not have rollover protection. Even though it has been compulsory for all tractors in Victoria, including those in non-workplaces, since the early 1980's.
   "These incidents are stark illustrations of how simple safety measures can make a difference." Director of Worksafe's Manufacturing Logistics and Agriculture division, Ross Pilkington said. "Unless tractors are properly equipped and maintained they can be dangerous and potentially deadly."

   The Federal Government is being urged to make Australia the third country in the world to automatically give compensation to firefighters who develop cancer.
   International research shows firefighters are in the top 20 percent of healthy workers when they start their job. However after five years, they face much higher rates of cancer than the general population. A Senate inquiry hearing into occupational cancer in firefighters is being held in Melbourne. Canadian expert Alex Forest says the U.S. and Canada already have laws that mean firefighters are presumed to have contracted certain cancers while at work.

   A scienceworks staff member was taken to hospital after a chemical experiment went wrong. Emergency services were called to the Spotswood venue after reports of a small explosion.
   A female worker, who was giving a demonstration, was treated for smoke inhalation. No members of the public are thought to have been hurt in the icident . An ambulance spokesman said they were called to "a small explosion involving chemicals." A Firebrigade spokesman confirmed it was during an "experiment in front of kids". The worker was taken to the Western Hospital in Footscray for observation and remains in a stable condition.

   WorkSafe has issued two improvement notices to a timber and building materials company following the death of a truck driver at a Campbellfield worksite. A 56 year old Lara man was unloading timber from a semi-trailer when bundled timber fell on him, crushing him to death.
   The company has been given two weeks to improve safety practices relating to the unloading of trucks and pedestrian exclusion zones. WorkSafe has returned to the workplace to continue its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

   The number of Victorians claiming to have been bullied at work has skyrocketed, with complaints to Worksafe Victoria more than doubling to 6,000 in the past year. However no action was taken on the vast majority of complaints, as most fell well short of what constitutes workplace bullying under the law.
   People complained of bullying after being sacked for assaulting a manager, missing out on a payrise or not being invited to a work party. Of the 6,000 bullying complaints made to Worksafe, only 10 percent were referred to the bullying response unit.

   Worksafe Victoria visited Shell on the 25th July to probe how two contractors were exposed to potentially lethal gas in a leak at the Corio oil refinery. Eight CFA crews from across Geelong were called to the Shell plant after the company sounded a major alert after hydrogen sulfide, a flammable and poisonous gas, was found to have leaked from one of the refinery pumps.
   The alert was deemed to be of the highest level of three available to Shell, according to CFA sources. The gas is found in crude oil and is removed during the refining process. Worksafe Victoria spokesman Michael Birt said the leak had come  as fitters worked on a line in the plant, preparing it for shutdown. Mr Birt said the flow to that line had been stopped within minutes and the leak was isolated before the CFA arrived. Shell spokesman Paul Zenarro said the company was still investigating the cause of the leak.

   A man received burns to more than half of his body during an explosion at a car wrecker's factory in Melbourne's north. The 32 year old is believed to have been stripping an LPG cylinder from a car when the blast happened at the wreckers in Campbellfield.
   The man received second degree burns to 60 percent of his body, an Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said. She said his pants, which were made of acrylic, had begun to melt on to his skin and he was burnt from the waist down on the front and back of his body. He also suffered facial burns and blistering on his neck. As he tried to flee the flames the man also broke his ankle when he jumped a fence, the Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said. He was taken to the Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition. Melbourne Fire Brigade and WorkSafe investigators are yet to establish the cause of the fire.

   A prostitute who had a gun pulled on her for refusing to have unprotected sex, plans to sue a suburban brothel for failing to protect her.The woman who does not want to be identified, said her former workplace, "Butterflys of Blackburn," had turned a blind eye to workers having unprotected sex, creating false expectations and a sense of entitlement among clients.
   It also failed to video record people coming and going from the premises and did not have security guards. She said this partly led to a man assaulting her last August when she persistently refused to have sex with him without a condom. She said her refusal caused the man to aggressively grab her, flip her onto her back and attempt to rape her. Although she escaped, the man pulled out a gun before leaving and threatened her.
   The woman has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, whip lash in her neck and a torn muscle in her shoulder. She said although other brothels provided excellent security for their workers, Butterflys had allowed workers to charge extra for unprotected sex, creating an impression that clients could get whatever they wanted.

   A man who fell to the bottom of a five metre pit while working on a construction site in Craigieburn joked to paramedics about how lucky he was to be alive.The man aged in his 50s, was working at the site on the Hume Highway when he fell. He briefly lost consciousness after the fall and suffered a cut to the head. Two paramedics were winched down the pit to treat the man.
   Advanced life support paramedics from Craigieburn, intensive care paramedics from Campbellfield and an urban search and rescue paramedic were called to the accident. The man is believed to have been unconscious for about a minute and had a cut to the back of his head. He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition.

WorkSafe are in the process of changing the Industry Classification system that they have been using since 1985. Every Victorian Employer will be recoded into the new system as of 1 July 2011. Under the system a business is classified according to the predominant way in which it makes its money.  When the new system comes into effect in July 2011, some businesses may find that they have been reclassified.

The WorkSafe Insurance Premium Illustration that has been sent out recently will indicate where your business will be reclassified to after July 1, 2011. It is your responsibility as an employer to make sure that the classification reflects the predominant activity (how your business makes its money) of your business. 

If you do not believe that the new classification is correct, fill in the section provided and send the form back to your WorkCover Agent. If you are unsure contact our office and our premium expert will review the Classification applied against the Activity and advise you accordingly.

MELBOURNE: A man has had a lucky escape after being trapped under one tonne of steel in a scaffolding collapse. The 26-year-old man was working on the scaffolding about three metres off the ground where construction workers were building a bridge over the Frankston bypass. Workmates used a crane to lift the steel off him before paramedics arrived at the scene. Paramedic Al Gailey said a dirt ledge either side of the man stopped any more steel landing on him. The man was flown to The Alfred Hospital in a stable condition.

It’s that time of the year again!  Your last chance to check how you are travelling in respect to the Estimated Remuneration that you put in in July last year. 

• Have you hired any new workers? 
• Have you downsized your workforce? 

If you have done either of the above you may be out by more than 20% in you Estimate compared to what your actual remuneration will be as at 30 June 2011. 

We can change your estimate now and avoid an Underestimation Penalty.  Call or email us with your revised estimate and we will ensure that your WorkCover Agent is informed of the change.

INVERLOCH: A man has died after a farming accident in eastern Victoria. Police say the man was trying to put the cow into a race at a dairy farm at Inverloch on the Bass Highway when the animal headbutted him in the chest and crushed him against a steel gate. The man, aged in his fifties, walked away but collapsed a few minutes later. He was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital where he died. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

MELBOURNE: A man is in a critical condition after falling three metres at a work site in country Victoria. The 44-year-old fell backwards into a hole where a staircase was to be built. He was flown to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital with serious head injuries

A 72-year-old Colac man will have to learn to talk again after an accident that almost cost him his life.
Eric Hay, who turns 73 next week, remains in Royal Melbourne Hospital’s respiratory unit after suffering multiple skull fractures and a bout of life-threatening pneumonia in a near-fatal mishap at Warrion Cricket Ground.

A man is appealing to the County Court against a 21-month prison sentence after being convicted of workers compensation fraud.

The right of workers to speak up about safety without fearing for their jobs has been upheld in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, in the first discrimination conviction under the OHS Act 2004.

Patrick Stevedoring Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of transport infrastructure giant Asciano, was convicted and fined in January 2011 after being found guilty of discriminating against a worker who raised concerns about cargo lifting procedures in 2007.

“Protecting yourself and your co-workers by raising health and safety matters at work isn’t just a right, it’s a necessity,” WorkSafe’s Executive Director for Health and Safety, Ian Forsyth, said. “Discriminating against someone who’s trying to speak up about safety issues isn’t something WorkSafe takes lightly – and this prosecution sends a clear message to all employers that it’s unacceptable.”

The company was convicted of three charges under section 76 of the OHS Act 2004, and fined a total of $180,000. Under section 76, it is an offence to dismiss, injure or alter a worker’s position to his or her detriment, or threaten to do so, just because the worker has raised a safety concern or exercised their power as an HSR.

In sentencing, Magistrate Rosemary Carlin spoke about the “serious instances of discriminating behaviour” which had occurred, and the need to deter other employers from discriminating against their workers.

The prosecution of Patrick Stevedoring relates to a series of incidents in 2007, where an experienced stevedore, who was also an elected health and safety representative, was given warning letters, stood down, and threatened with dismissal after raising concerns about a method for lifting cargo loads of steel in and out of vessels.

The worker’s concerns related to the safety of a ‘basket lifting’ technique for lifting steel loads, which a client of Patrick Stevedoring wanted to introduce.
At the time, company procedure required the use of a different technique, called ‘double wrapping’, to lift steel loads. The worker raised concerns about the safety of the basket lifting technique on three occasions in 2007, and objected to using the basket lift.

In a meeting between the worker and a Patrick Stevedoring manager, the manager threatened to dismiss the worker and stood him down for a week. At a later date, the worker received a disciplinary letter with a number of complaints against him, including that he had refused to indicate whether he would follow instructions to use the basket lift to load cargo.

Patricks Stevedoring pleaded not guilty to all charges.
 

A Melbourne business owner has been prosecuted after a worker on a domestic construction site under his control fell through a hole in the floor and died.
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Wing Cheong Chan had control of the workplace but failed to ensure it was safe for workers – he simply warned them to be careful.

A casual employee died from his injuries in June 2008 after falling more than three metres through a hole on a first level floor to the ground floor.

Mr Chan was convicted on two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, and fined $30,000.

“This incident is a reminder to everyone responsible for a workplace to actively identify and eliminate safety risks,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Executive Director for Health and Safety Ian Forsyth said.  “Telling your workers to ‘be careful’ isn’t going to cut it.”

The court heard Mr Chan, who also co-owns a furniture-making business, was contracted to carry out renovation work at a Lower Templestowe home. He employed two casual workers, including the deceased, to carry out the construction work.

A number of holes in the first floor of the house had been cut out by an electrical contractor to thread electrical cables through. While some holes were covered and secured, other holes were uncovered.

Mr Chan told his employees to be careful of the holes but didn’t take any steps to securely cover them or barricade the area off.

The worker, a 63 year-old man from Lower Templestowe, fell through one of the holes in the master bedroom to the ground floor below. He was taken to hospital with serious injuries and later died.

“Mr Chan was the primary contractor and had the key to the workplace,” Mr Forsyth said.  “He hired the workers and he was responsible for who came on and off the site.  If you’re assuming control of a workplace, responsibilities come with it. You’ve got to be vigilant about the risks.  Mr Chan could have eliminated or reduced the risks by preventing workers from coming on site unless each hole was covered or at least cordoned off. He could have barricaded off any areas or rooms where any holes weren’t covered.  The take-home message here is clear – if you’re responsible for a workplace, you need to be actively looking for hazards every day and taking steps to eliminate them.

WorkSafe is calling on Victorian employers and workers to ensure high safety standards are in place after a spate of serious incidents in the last few weeks.

A Melbourne company was convicted of two charges and fined a total of $163,500 for its failure to provide adequate first aid to a worker who sustained a head injury and later died. The magistrate described the incident as “outrageous” and handed down another $20,000 fine to the director.