Month: May 2024

Source: SafeWork SA

An alarming rise in serious injuries caused by falls from heights has prompted SafeWork SA to launch an awareness campaign to keep workers safe.

The state’s workplace health and safety regulator today revealed that 2023 saw a 36 per cent increase in the number of serious workplace injuries caused by falling from heights across all industries compared to the previous year.

The falls prevention campaign coincides with the release of Safework SA’s 2023 Health and Safety Snapshot of the construction industry.

Of the 105 serious injuries sustained in workplace falls in 2023, more than half involved construction workers, five times more than any other industry.

There were 58 serious injuries in construction, including 36 in the residential sector, and 10 involving apprentices.

SafeWork SA identified 399 non-compliances across all industries in 2023, with construction accounting for 89 per cent.

The 2023 snapshot shows:

• residential construction sector had the most non-compliances with 292 compared to 58 in commercial and six in civil.
• misuse of ladders was the biggest contributor to serious injuries from falls with 35 incidents.
• carpentry and working on a roof had a high number of serious injuries caused by falls with 13 and 14 respectively.
• 83 per cent of serious injuries were due to falls below three metres.
• 20 per cent of falls resulted in head injuries.

SafeWork SA inspectors will visit construction sites and continue to monitor compliance with managing the risk of falls.

They will also remind workers, businesses, contractors and managers about their legal obligations to identify and manage hazards.

To support this, SafeWork SA is providing access to a new interactive tool created by Safe Work Australia to guide businesses and workers through the process of formally documenting risks and controls for each project, including working at height.

Produced in consultation with construction unions and associations, a sample Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) Guidance Tool based on first fix carpentry is available on the SafeWork SA website

The campaign will also target the six construction activities which the audit identified as having the most non-compliances with safety tips published on SafeWork SA’s social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Outside of construction, falls accounted for 11 serious injuries in manufacturing, eight in transport, postal and warehousing, eight in agriculture, forestry and fishing four in mining with the remainder attributed to other sectors including health care, arts and recreation and retail.

The SafeWork SA website contains extensive safety resources specific to construction work which it regularly promotes to the industry.

Quotes attributable to SafeWork SA Executive Director Glenn Farrell:

SafeWork SA provides a comprehensive range of tools, resources and support to the construction industry so it can keep its workers safe. We will be carefully monitoring the safety performance of the residential sector in particular and looking for significant improvements. I congratulate the businesses that are doing the right thing and encourage them to maintain high standards.

Further Resources

• 2023 Health and Safety Snapshot

Source: SafeWork NSW

Keks Projects Pty Ltd (Keks) has been fined $180,000 after a worker fell 4.5 metres down an excavation pit, sustaining a fractured right ankle and several fractures to his pelvis.

The Court heard that at the time of the incident, the temporary edge protection along the excavation pit the worker was leaning against gave way, leading to the fall. The risk of a fall was known to and foreseen by Keks, and there were simple and effective steps available to eliminate or minimise the risk.

Keks has the right to appeal the sentence.

Falls from heights in the construction industry are depressingly common, often with devastating and long-lasting impact on the workers. 

We are urging business to be on guard, see the risks, and implement effective steps so that all workers can go home safely at the end of their working day, every day. 

For information and guidance on working safely from heights in the construction industry, visit https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/hazards-a-z/working-at-heights

As you may be aware, the Standards Australia SF015 Committee has been undertaking a review of the 1891.4 standard. 

We are pleased to let you know that the draft is now open for commenting on Standards Australia public comments system. 

Standard: DR AS/NZS 1891.4:2024 Personal equipment for working at height, Part 4: Selection, use and maintenance
Committee: SF-015 Industrial Height Safety Equipment

Comment Start Date: 08/05/2024
Comment End Date: 10/07/2024

You can view the draft with latest comments and provide your feedback here: https://comment.standards.org.au/Drafts/868f55bb-6112-40d7-99d1-e8db4841ac3d

Fatigue is more than feeling tired and drowsy – fatigue is a state of mental and/or physical exhaustion that reduces the ability to work safely and effectively. It can happen when someone is overworked, not sleeping right or has had a disruption to their internal body clock. 

If you’re a person conducting a business or undertaking, you have a work health and safety (WHS) duty to prevent fatigue.  

You must eliminate or minimise the risk of fatigue, so far as is reasonably practicable. You must consult with workers, and health and safety representatives if you have them, about health and safety issues that may directly affect them. You must also consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with any other duty holders who you share a duty with. 

Workers also have a duty to take reasonable care for their own safety and health and make sure their acts or omissions don’t adversely affect the health or safety of others. Your PCBU has a duty to keep you and your workplace safe from risks associated with fatigue. You also have a duty to take reasonable care of your safety and that of others in the workplace including ensuring your acts and omissions don’t adversely affect others health and safety. Comply with any reasonable instructions, policies and procedure given by your PCBU at the workplace.

People in the construction industry can often work long hours, doing physically demanding work, which may lead to mental and/or physical exhaustion that reduces the ability to perform work safely and effectively.

It reduces alertness which may lead to errors and can increase the risk of an incidents or injuries for the fatigued worker and others. Particularly when a worker is: 

• Operating a fixed or mobile plant
• Working at heights
• Working with flammable or explosive substances
• Doing hazardous work e.g. electrical work

Managing the risks of fatigue

As a PCBU, you should manage the risks of fatigue in the workplace by:

1. Identifying hazards and assessing the risks.
2. Controlling the risks by eliminating the risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable; and if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to health and safety, minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable; and
3. Reviewing hazards and revising control measures, where necessary, to ensure they’re working as planned.

Identifying hazards and assessing risks

Identifying the hazards that may cause fatigue in the workplace is an important first step. Ways to identify these hazards include: 

• Consulting workers, managers, supervisors and health and safety representatives – for example, about the impact of workloads. work schedules, work-related travel and work outside normal hours. 
• Examining work practices, systems of work and worker records – for example, sign-in and sign-out sheets; and 
• Reviewing data – for example, workplace incident or human resource data. 

Once you have identified the hazards you can then assess the risks. This step may not be necessary if you are dealing with a known risk, with known controls.  

Controlling the risks

Examples of control measures to manage the risks of fatigue include:

• Work scheduling – for example, schedule safety critical work outside the low body clock periods between 2am and 6am, and 2pm and 4pm. 
• Managing job demands – for example, structure shifts so work demands are highest in the middle of the shift and decrease towards the end. 
• Change environmental conditions – for example, eliminate working in heat. 
• Consult with workers about managing non-work related causes; and 
• Implement a workplace fatigue policy. 

Some control measures are more effective than others and you may need to implement a combination of controls to manage the risks of fatigue so far as is reasonably practicable.  

Reviewing hazards and control measures

Once control measures are implemented, they should be monitored and reviewed to make sure they remain effective. Consider implementing trial periods for any new work schedules and encouraging workers to provide feedback on their effectiveness. 

For more information – Head to SafeWork Australia

• Guide for managing the risk of fatigue at work
• Fatigue management – a worker’s guide
• Video – Work-related fatigue and job design
• Safe Work Australia webpage – Fatigue