Safety At Work Blog

Adjunct Professor Geoff Taylor recently emailed me with his concerns about the pipeline explosion on Varanus Island.

Media reports in Western Australia over the last few weeks raised serious questions about the gas crisis. Some may say that it is easy to be wise after the event, but the government had ample opportunity to be wise before the event, and develop a plan to keep a close watch on the engineering integrity of energy suppliers’ plant and an emergency plan for the state and nation. There presumably would be a safety case on file for Varanus, for example, and safety cases include contingency plans.

Prof. Andrew Hopkins wrote a book Lessons from Longford that reported on the contributing factors to the Longford gas explosion ten years ago, which left Melbourne without gas.

Here more recently we have had vibrations in the Dampier-Perth pipe, the Woodside electrical substation problem in January which cut gas supply, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) concerns reportedly expressed to Apache in April,  and the prohibition notice NOPSA issued to the Four Vanguard FPSO off Barrow Island reported in May.

In fact it has reportedly emerged that the WA government has a critical infrastructure protection committee advising the Premier. The police had also apparently looked at Apache, from the point of view of a terror attack primarily, in 1993 and 2001, and provided advice to the company.

It is vital that the state government’s energy ministry takes a keener and more sustained interest in these matters in the future, as they clearly can affect not just WA firms and residents, but the state and national economies, and Australia’s overseas customers.

Clearly better coordination between NOPSA, WA Resources Safety (both of which find it hard to keep staff), the energy ministry and the Premier’s committee is vital. The state’s energy system cannot be run continuously at near full capacity, because there will be outages and shutdowns for maintenance.

The advent of peak oil has highlighted the critical nature of hydrocarbon supply to our way of life, and that and the need to address the greenhouse effect also require a clear national and state energy and urban design strategy, for a state and nation so far designed around cheap fuel.

Geoff is the co-author of some excellent OHS books, particularly Enhancing Safety.

In 2000, sexworkers advocates in Australia published “A guide to best practice – Occupational health and safety in the Australian sex industry”. They tried for some time to have OHS authorities accept it as an industry-based code applicable to that particular State. As far as I know, they were unsuccessful but many of the elements of the guide have been picked up in various laws and licensing conditions since then. An updated soft version of the guide is available online, along with guidelines from other jurisdictions. (My edition of Safety At Work concerning the sex industry is still available as a free download)

I was reminded of this today when I saw a report from New Zealand about sexworker safety. It was reported that two Women’s Institute members from England have undertaken a world tour of brothel districts to determine the impact of local laws on prostitution. They were very impressed by New Zealand’s sex industry.

I am very impressed that an institution like the Women’s Institute undertook this activity. The realist approach to an activity that will never go away speaks volumes for how an organisation unfairly stereotyped is establishing a contemporary relevance.

Disclaimer: I treasure the WI Cookbook I purchased in the Lake District on my honeymoon over 20 years ago. It’s much better than some of the modern books that rely on manufactured ingredients.

Some years ago the CEO of an OHS certifying body came to Australia from the US.  He spoke intriguingly about the benefits of having an independently-assessed safety practitioner registration.  I could see the potential international career benefits but I am already a registered safety practitioner through my membership with an OHS professional association.  I couldn’t see the relevance of an independent registration for my purposes, but it was also around this time that Australian OHS authorities became concerned about the level of OHS advice being provided to business, particularly by consultants.

As a consultant myself, we trade on our reputations and the quality of advice we provide.  The most direct consequence of poor advice is, at worst, non-payment for service, at best, the client will never call you back and will, probably, not recommend you to their colleagues (or should that be vice-versa?).  Those consequences are pretty dire if consulting is your only source of income.

And should you be worried about this anyway when there are other clients out there? 

The OHS legislation says it is the employer’s responsibility for workplace safety.  They can choose to take your advice or not.  If they do, the consequences are theirs, good or bad.

My reports include a disclaimer that says any action taken based on my advice is the client’s responsibility, so legally I’m covered. (The legitimacy of disclaimers is a legal matter but I think they indicate a lack of confidence in the quality of a consultant’s advice, but the insurers say I have to include one.)

Consumer legislation says “buyer beware” so if the client picks a dud consultant, it is their look-out.

And I have professional indemnity insurance, so if a disgruntled client does take some action against me, in certain parameters, it’s an insurance matter, so why should I care?

Now, in Australia, there is a Health & Safety Professionals Alliance (HaSPA)- soon to rolled out nationally.  Will this provide me with more support or is it a way of disciplining me for poor service? Is it a positive or a negative for my consultancy?

I don’t know, and in an hour I will attend the first of a series of information sessions about the HaSPA initiative.  There may be some answers and I will certainly ask the questions.

What I don’t dispute is the OHS profession needs an enforceable system of accountability.  But perhaps more importantly, the profession needs an increased level of continuous professional development.  In the provision of information, as in occupational health and safety, prevention is better than punishment.

Last weekend two Queensland workers fell 26 storeys from swing scaffolding to their deaths.  They were patching concrete on a building from a platform similar to those used by high-rise window cleaners. According to a 24 June 2008 ABC news report:

“The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says the men were wearing harnesses attached to the scaffold, but they were not anchored to the high rise building.”

The deaths gained more than the usual (not much) media attention partly because the Queensland Labor Party state conference was being held nearby at the same time as the incident. There was lots of state and national media, plenty of union delegates and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

The construction unions immediately banned the use of swing scaffoldings.  At the time the Prime Minister expressed his sorrow at the incident to the conference audience.

The Prime Minister said

“A few blocks from here there has just been a terrible industrial accident, where we have seen two construction workers lose their lives.    As Labor people, our thoughts are with the families of those men and this terrible accident reminds us all … of the dangers which continue to affect so many of the work sites of Australia.”

David Hanna of the Builders’ Labourers’ Federation was quoted in a media report as saying

“Yesterday’s fatalities were the first in memory that was a double fatality and it’s certainly a wake-up call for us…. We want manslaughter charges for the employers and the directors of these companies that are blatantly at fault. We want them charged, we want them locked up, because there are murderers out there.”

I support the call for greater accountability for poor decisions by company officers but surely David Hanna’s call for manslaughter charges for “companies that are blatantly at fault” is a bit premature.  OHS legislation in Australia is based around an analysis of the systems of work that lead to good safety practices and may lead to injury and fatality.  To raise the issue of manslaughter charges so soon after the death of two workers is inappropriate.

What I also cannot understand is why a union delegate would want to enflame industrial tensions on workplace safety while the country is in the middle of a review of OHS laws, a matter that has already caused increased tension and concern between unions and employer associations.

When I was involved in IR negotiations twenty years, we all knew there was a time and place for storng language and strident calls for change.  This last weekend was the wrong time.

Workplace Health & Safety Queensland have issued a safety alert on the scaffolding.

Several years ago, one of the major contributors to my Safety At Work magazine came to stay for a couple of weeks with my family in Melbourne.  Melody Kemp is a passionate safety professional who works mostly in the Asian region.  Melody has a fresh and blunt perspective on safety that keeps westerners and academics from becoming too pompous and isolated.

Melody wrote articles for me on women in the defence force, Indonesian fishing industry hazards and several other fascinating articles.   She has written for Dissent magazine, was the author of Working For Life – an OHS sourcebook for women, which is now a free download, and now has a blog of her own.  I highly recommend you spend some time reading her blog and reflecting on your own approach to OHS.

Further details have begun to emerge from the vat explosion at the Pioneer Sugar Mill at Burdekin in Queensland on 20 June 2008.  According to media reports, the plant, owned by CSR, was one of four sugar mills that suffered equipment failures on almost a daily basis, according to Burdekin Limited district manager Jim Collins.

Three workers were treated for minor injuries and the 80 staff at the mill  at the time were evacuated.

I have a confessions to make.  I stick to the speed limit and in over 25 years of driving cars and riding motorcycles, I have never had a speeding ticket.  That may make me sound like a grumpy old fart but I can’t see how it can be worth putting yourself and others at risk for little return.

A constant source of disappointment comes when I reduce my speed to match the restrictions in areas where roadworks are occurring.  I stay in the right lane to allow the speeders to get past without causing me problems.  I would hate to be a road maintenance or construction worker.  In some circumstances, the only protection for these workers is a fluorescent vest.  Fixed worksites are luckier as they can erect signs, traffic control lights, concrete barriers and other control measures.

Yesterday (23 June 2008 ) in Melbourne two truck drivers had their rigs confiscated for traveling at 90 kilometres per hour in a 40 kilometre zone.  Victortia has legislation that is principally aimed at reckless young drivers who drag race and do burnouts but speed is also covered under this “hoon” law and it is under this law that the vehicles were confiscated.

The drivers will receive their vehicles back in two days but I wonder what their employer said to them when the vehicles did not come back.  I wonder what the employer said to the customers who did not receive their goods.

I have a neighbour who speeds along my street because she sees the low speed restriction as stupid.  But this is a workplace safety blog and I have to say that in the case of the speeding trucks, the police followed the hierarchy of controls and eliminated the hazard at the source.  I can only hope that this action is supported by the transport industry and not protested with claims of victimisation.  I am sure the roadworkers out there won’t protest.

UPDATE

The ABC has released a video interview with a representative of the Victoria Police who provides additional details on the confiscation of the vehicle.

The Police & Emergency Services Minister, Bob Cameron (a former minister for WorkCover) stated

“You’ve got people doing excessive speed, effectively through a workplace, and it is totally appropriate that they’re impounded.”

Here are a couple of links for Australian workplace traffic management that you may find useful. There is quite a bit of information available but not a lot is focussed on the road user.

Traffic Management Checklist

SWAT Bulletin

According to Australian news reports, several explosions have occurred at the Pioneer sugar mill in Queensland.  Two people have been seriously injured and 14 are currently trapped

According to firefighters there was a low pressure explosion in a 1,000 litre sugar vat at 9am on 20 June 2008. 

“After the vat exploded it fell over and pushed over another 1,000 litre sugar vat. The ‘mud’ that spilt from the vats ran into an adjoining lab facility and nine staff members were evacuated.”

For fixed periods over the last two years I have been working morning or night shift for a multi-national business information company.  I know shiftwork fairly well although I have never worked rotating shifts and the longest shift worked is around nine hours.  That may well categorise me as a wimp to those oil-rig workers, firefighters, bakers and miners out there, but…..

being an OHS professional I have been very watchful of my own health when working shiftwork.  On full night shift it took my digestion weeks to break the routine of over forty years.  My weight has increased but no chronic illnesses yet.  My biggest risk comes from fatigue in the drive to and from work though I have to admit that at 2.30 in the morning in Melbourne, I could use my cruise control on the suburban streets as the traffic is so light.

I have also been more keenly aware of the studies and reports on shiftwork and the health risks associated with it.  Often these reports garner considerable media coverage and, as is the way with media, some contrary articles never get a run.  Below is a selection of links to articles that highlight increased risk or the reduction of risk in relation to shiftwork:

Epidemiological Diagnosis of Occupational Fatigue in a Fly-In–Fly-Out Operation of the Mineral Industry

Simple Schedule Changes Could Improve Shift Worker Health

U of T research finds shift work linked to organ disease

This is a selection of the most recent and show the difficulties posed to OHS professionals and managers in handling this emerging risk.

For the moment, I am taking the issue of shiftwork out of my personal concerns.  I will focus instead on the health, fitness and fatigue issues applying the logic that the hazard variable over which I have the most control is myself.

The safety of workers at the Varanus Island pipeline has been questioned through emailed photos of the explosion site and the accompanying email.  The images have not been confirmed by Apache Energy.

The email, reported by The Age and perthnow, says the “big bang” had occurred because the pipe had corroded “to the thickness of a match stick”.

It was also reported to include the following comments from a worker

“We ran for our lives, really really really scary. Does not feel good to be back here so soon (5 days later) The place is quiet, no noise, nothing. Just us hitting spanners ect (sic). Not sure if I really wanna be here when it’s up and running, which will be months away, a lot of damage.”