SafeWork Regulator News: Safety blitz targets Aged Care facilities

SafeWork inspectors are set to audit residential aged care facilities in an effort to reduce the risk of worker injuries caused by manual handling tasks.

The campaign will ensure compliance with work health and safety legislation, as well as checking measures required to control the risks associated with resident handling.

More than half of manual handling injuries in residential aged care facilities happen when nurses and carers move residents. SafeWork routinely audit businesses for manual handling procedures, as part of their regulatory role. 

SafeWork SA Acting Executive Director Dini Soulio said the audit, to be conducted by the organisation’s regulator arm, was one of many to occur each year.

“These initiatives are in addition to the reactive work inspectors carry out every day in response to notifications and incidents,” Mr Soulio said.

“The inspectors will be looking at a range of things in the aged care sector, including resident aids and equipment, systems for assessing residents for mobility aids and environmental factors such as building access. They will also be checking that there are appropriate injury reporting mechanisms for nurses, carers and others involved in the care of residents and that, in an overall sense, there is a ‘safety first’ workplace culture.

“The audit will determine whether safe systems of work are in place and that they are reviewed regularly so the risk of manual handling injuries is eliminated or reduced.”

The Australian Government has estimated that the number of aged care workers in Australia will increase from 352 100 in 2012 to 827 100 in 2050.

ISOsafe help aged care businesses comply with regulatory duties. Don’t get caught out. Contact ISOsafe today on 1300 789 132 to organise your independent workplace safety review. Our mobile work health and safety advisory service can visit you at your workplace to deliver training and prepare manual handling procedures.
 

KFC Australia clean workplace safety (OHS) record tarnished

A KFC outlet at Eastwood, South Australia has been convicted and fined over an incident in which a young worker suffered burns to nine per cent of his body.

The Industrial Court convicted the company over the incident, which was the company’s first work health and safety conviction, and imposed a penalty of $105,000 plus costs.

On 15 May 2015, while working as a cook, the 16-year-old worker suffered severe burns after stepping backwards and falling into a tank of hot oil which had been placed by another young worker on the floor behind him without warning him.

Following investigation by SafeWork SA, KFC was charged with offences under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) for failure to provide a safe working environment free of tripping hazards, failing to maintain a safe system of work by failing to provide and maintain a working procedure for filtering hot oil and failing to provide adequate information, training and supervision for the tasks of filtering, changing, removing or cleaning oil from a cooker.

Magistrate Lieschke said although KFC had identified the hazard of hot surfaces, it had failed to specifically address the hazard of hot oil and where the used oil tanks should be placed once they had been removed from its cookers.

“As a result, a 17-year-old trainer, a necessarily inexperienced youth, was left to work out a system for performing the task and instructing new employees, in this instance as to an unsafe procedure,” he said.

“I accept that KFC did have a system of training that included some online learning, on-the-job training and skills assessment, together with general safety awareness instructions for trainers. However, the system was clearly deficient, as admitted.”

Magistrate Lieschke reduced the initial penalty of $175,000 fine because of KFC’s early guilty plea, and handed down a penalty of $105,000, and reparations of $15,000 paid to the victim.

SafeWork SA Acting Executive Director Dini Soulio said the case highlighted the need for business operators to identify foreseeable risks to health and safety and implement control measures to eliminate or minimise risks.

“When young workers are involved business operators should be particularly mindful of ensuring they are aware of the hazards and risks in the workplace and are trained in safe systems of work,” Mr Soulio said.

ISOsafe help business owners – call us today on 1300 789 132 to learn more about how our specialists can visit your food business to provide training and advice on work health and safety.

New OHS Regulations 2017

The new Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations) and Equipment (Public Safety) Regulations 2017 (EPS Regulations) will commence on 18 June 2017. You can access both the current and future Regulations via the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website. 

The new OHS Regulations 2017 are mainly the same. However, if you are in a workplace where asbestos is present; are a manufacturer or an importing supplier of hazardous substances or agricultural and veterinary chemicals; work in construction; or operate a mine or major hazard facility, you need to become aware of the changes. In most cases, compliance is required by 18 June 2017.

Most importantly, the new OHS Regulations 2017 maintain Victoria's already high safety standards. In some high risk areas, like asbestos removal work, they improve standards. The changes also deliver significant savings to Victorian businesses in the areas of high risk work licensing and record keeping for designers and manufacturers of plant.

For some changes, transitional arrangements apply to allow duty and licence holders time to become compliant with the updated regulatory requirements.

If you are affected by the changes, WorkSafe has prepared a range of information and support resources to help you identify what to do to stay compliant when the changes take effect on 18 June 2017, available through the links below.

ISOsafe can prepare the most up to date, tailor-made policies and forms for managing OHS in your workplace. Information and training for your staff about the new OHS and EPS Regulations 2017 is also available through ISOsafe. With staff placed locally across Victoria to help your business better comply with the regulatory changes contact us on 1300 789 132 or email us at enquiries@isosafe.com.au for a fast, free quote.
 

Fatal crash near Dubbo attributed to truck driver fatigue

A Police audit of trucking company, Redstar Transport, has so far revealed issues with insecure loads and driver fatigue. 
The investigations follow an earlier road collision incident involving one of the company’s B-doubles and a car, where two boys, aged nine and twelve, died.
Officers have been working with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) as part of an investigation relating to safety breaches at Redstar depots at Yennora in Sydney and in Dubbo.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said all the trucks initially inspected had load issues.
One driver was issued with a field court attendance notice in relation to logbook entries.
"What we need to remember here is there were two children killed in a car accident in the early hours of the morning involving the B-double," Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
"As a result of all fatal accidents involving trucks, we make sure that those companies involved have the right governance around operations."
The Assistant Commissioner said police were not impressed with the safety issues.
"We are very disappointed," he said.
"The company has been compliant with us, they have been working with us. But to have the amount of issues we have had with all the trucks and drivers this morning has been very disappointing."
Assistant Commissioner Corboy said the audit will help reduce and prevent similar incidents from happening on the nation's roads.
Don’t risk your trucking business’ reputation and costly penalties. We help businesses comply with workplace safety laws. Contact ISOsafe today on 1300 789 132.
 

Our best kept secrets to getting more value out of your ISO auditor

Organisations seeking certification of their ISO management system are required to undergo regular audits. After each audit cycle, it is important for top level management to review the auditor’s report and act on or commit to any recommendations – this will help the organisation keep with current best practices and ensure compliance with the requirements of the relevant standard.

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Part of the audit will be spent looking at how you are progressing to meet your business objectives. You can come away from your audit at the end with fresh knowledge of new objectives to aim for and how you can achieve these.

Do you have an external audit approaching? We can help your organisation achieve audit success; avoiding costly and time consuming failed external audits. Call ISOsafe today on 1300 789 132.