Paralympian Jack Swift understands better than most the benefits of returning to work after injury.

He was just 20 and working as a plumber’s labourer on an inner Melbourne construction site when a 14-tonne excavator ran over his right leg, crushing it below the knee. Conscious throughout the ordeal, Jack was rushed to hospital and his leg was amputated the next day.

Jack said the accident ‘absolutely turned my life upside down’ and described the 13 months he was off work as the worst time of his life.

“I thought losing a leg was like being paralysed,” Jack said.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to hang around my mates, play football, let alone return to work — I couldn’t comprehend where my life was going.

“Now, I can do as much as many able-bodied people.”

Jack said returning to work after his workplace accident was difficult but, with the help of his family and the correct medical support, it made him who he is today.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support I received from my employer, medical professionals, my family and my girlfriend Jenna. They were there every step of the way,” he said.

“I’ve been in the shoes of an injured person returning to work after a workplace accident and I know the benefits – it’s not just about financial benefits but also the physical, social and mental benefits.”

As part of WorkSafe’s new campaign to highlight the physical, mental and social benefits of injured workers getting back to work as soon as it is safe for them to do so, Jack is visiting selected organisations to share his return to work journey.

The campaign also includes TV commercials, social media messages and an interactive installation at Southern Cross Station in March.

The campaign highlights that injured workers who are off work for three months or longer face significant health risks. They include:

• up to 10 times more episodes of anxiety and depression
• greatly reduced life expectancy
• a higher risk of suicide.

On average, more than 28,000 Victorians are injured at work every year. Of these about 6000 are still off work after three months and 3000 are off work for more than six months.

WorkSafe Victoria chief executive Denise Cosgrove said the health and wellbeing of injured workers declined dramatically after more than 12 weeks off work.

“International research and our own data tells us the chances of someone returning to work drops off around the three-month mark and, after six months, the chances of the worker ever returning to work are halved,” Ms Cosgrove said.

“This alarming trend exposes them and their families to a range of increased health, financial and social risks.

“Getting back to work when it is safe and appropriate to do so is usually the best medicine for an injured worker, with research indicating that work is beneficial to their short and long-term mental and physical health.”

Ms Cosgrove said the role played by an injured person’s family and friends, employer, doctor and other medical professionals all played an important part in getting a person back to work.

“While an injured person’s own determination to get back to work goes a long way, the support and encouragement of the people around them is vital. It’s a team effort, but the benefits for injured workers and their families are enormous,” she said.

For more information about WorkSafe Victoria’s Return to Work campaign, visit WorkSafe Victoria’s Facebook page or follow WorkSafe Victoria on Twitter.

Recently, two men in the Northern Territory were rushed to hospital with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning after a portable petrol generator was left running in a building stairwell where they worked.

The incident shows that even small engines like those in demo-saws, brick-saws and generators can produce high enough concentrations of CO to pose serious danger to workers.

Operating this type of equipment outdoors may not completely avert the risk of CO poisoning as the gas can be drawn into buildings through openings and accumulate in excavations.

It’s also important to remember that if equipment has been used before without incident, this doesn’t mean CO emissions from this equipment will continue to be safe with future use – risks should be reassessed at each use.

CO is a highly poisonous gas and has the potential to cause illness, permanent neurological damage and death.

Increased levels of CO are hard to detect because it is colourless, odourless and non-irritating, and dangerous concentrations of the gas in the air can be reached within short periods of time.

The effects can occur so quickly that a worker risks being incapacitated before they even realise they are in danger.

Employers have duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 to control risks to health and safety associated with construction work. These risks may include exposure to carbon monoxide.

As part of managing the risk associated with CO, all workers who could potentially be affected by CO should be provided with information, instruction and training on how to control this risk.

Employers must also provide the supervision necessary to ensure effective risk controls for CO are implemented.

Click here for more information about managing CO risks in poorly ventilated environments.

You can comment on Pushin’ the barrow each week on Barrow blog.

There is currently a safety blitz underway and WorkSafe urges everyone in the housing construction industry to ensure sites and practices are up to scratch.

WorkSafe Regional Director – West, Adam Rogers, says builders and sub-contractors need to take time and check the effectiveness of their safety planning, worker supervision, fall prevention, electrical safety, site housekeeping and onsite worker facilities.

`We’re still seeing too many serious incidents on housing sites around the state with around 25 occurring each week’, he says.

Operation SafeSite began last year in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs where WorkSafe inspectors visited more than 100 sites and issued 58 improvement notices over a one-week period, with a further 44 health and safety breaches identified and rectified on the spot.

This month teams of inspectors are saturating areas around Ballarat, Bendigo, Warnambool, Geelong and Mildura.

WorkSafe Health and Safety General Manager, Lisa Sturzenegger, says many builders take a proactive approach to improving site safety but there’s still plenty of housing sites that don’t get basic safety issues right, let alone manage high risk construction work.

Make sure yours is not one of them.

Click here for the WorkSafe handbook Working safely in the housing construction industry.

For further information on how to make construction sites safe, please visit worksafe.vic.gov.au or contact the Housing Industry Association or the Master Builders Association.

WorkSafe Victoria wishes to thank all construction employers, employees and health and safety representatives who worked so hard at making their workplaces safer during 2012.

There is no doubting the effort that goes into increasing safety awareness within the construction industry each year. The very same characteristics that make our construction industry so appealing to approximately 250,000 direct employees also throws up many challenges in sustaining workplace safety.

Construction sites are typically dynamic changing environments. Various contractors come and go and the physical workplace changes by the hour as the vertical or horizontal build continues to tight schedules and deadlines. This dynamic activity also means that the sources of safety risks are ever-changing within the workplace.

Safety risks may be well known in the construction industry but it’s our ability to manage them in a consistent and sustainable way that remains a challenge.

The Christmas rush is a fact of life in the industry and Christmas shutdown dates somehow become artificial deadlines that drive clients to push builders to impossible commitments. By the time you read this, the ‘silly season’ will be almost over and I trust that your workplace has survived safely.

WorkSafe’s Christmas message to the construction industry is to firstly relax over the shutdown period and enjoy well-earned time with family and friends. In the new year however, employers are urged to think ahead and plan how workplaces will be safer by next Christmas. Consider what can be done nowto start safety conversations with employees and to change one or two things that will result in better managed safety everyday. Safety has to be a way of doing business, not just another JSA or SWMS that is photocopied and passed along.

WorkSafe’s website offers a range of safety-related advice and it’s also recommended you browse relevant employer and union websites to take advantage of their good information. In addition, and to help you develop a specific Safety Action Plan (SAP) for your small business, I urge you to take advantage of an independent and confidential free three-hour safety consultation by registering at worksafe.vic.gov.au website or phoning our Advisory Service on 1800 136 089.

Finally on behalf of WorkSafe, I wish for you and your loved ones a safe and restful Christmas and new year period and remember the most important reason for workplace safety is not at work.

Allan Beacom

High risk work in the construction industry can involve a range of work, from working at heights of more than two metres and removing asbestos to working in trenches or shafts deeper than 1.5m or with powered mobile plant (view list of further examples here).

To ensure work is carried out safely, we all know that a safe work method statement (SWMS) has to be put together to identify all the hazards and risks involved in the work, and then necessary control measures put in place. Employers must also make sure the work is done in accordance with the SWMS and keep a copy of it.

If you or any of your workers carry out high risk work, you also need a high risk work licence.

As of 1 October 2012 there have been some changes to licensing training and assessment requirements.

In order to get a licence for high risk work, you need to enrol into a unit of competency through a registered training organisation (RTO) and complete a competency assessment for your high risk work licence class(s).

Go to worksafe.vic.gov.au for more information about the new assessment instruments and getting a licence to perform high risk work.

It is anticipated this new system will further enhance safety outcomes in Victoria and ensure people have the skills and knowledge to perform high risk work in a safe way.

How do I get my high risk work licence?
You need to:
1. Enrol into a high risk work licensing unit of competency based on the high risk work licence type required. The training must be delivered under the supervision of, or in partnership with, a Licence Assessor/RTO.
2. Undertake the training, which consists of structured/formal and practical training. Training may take several days depending on the high risk work licence class(s) and the training strategy developed by the Licence Assessor/RTO for delivery of training in accordance with the relevant unit of competency.
3. Be assessed by the Licence Assessor/RTO through the use of nationally approved assessment instruments.
4. Be deemed competent and be issued with a ‘Notice of Assessment’..
5. Lodge an application for a high risk licence through Australia Post, and include the ‘Notice of Assessment’ with the application.

At a time of the year when the focus is on loved ones and celebration, employers and supervisors together with employees and HSRs, need to take particular care and action to prevent incidents and injuries, and ensure everyone gets home to their families safely. The good news is there are definitely some clear steps you can take.

What you can do
The cause of incident at this time of year varies, but it’s likely there are some key risk factors that become more common – look out for these, discuss them with your employees and encourage supervisors to raise them at toolbox meetings and shift changeovers so everyone is aware of the actions they should take to maintain safety.

• Are any non-routine activities taking place? These may be occurring during shutdown or maintenance periods. Review work practices and risk control measures for the tasks involved and consider if refresher training for workers or additional supervision is required.
• Will skilled workers be on leave and/or will temporary workers be coming in? Plan in advance for periods when skilled or specialist workers are away to ensure tasks are scheduled suitably and supervision levels are sufficient.
• Are plans in place to manage possible seasonal weather extremes? Periods of dry weather followed by heavy rainfall can contribute to some incidents. Ensure control measures are in place and that supervisors and workers are aware of the risk.
• Maintain awareness of key hazards. Mobile plant, working with electricity, rock falls, fires, use of hand tools, manual handling and ventilation are all potential sources of serious injury. Maintain focus on controlling risks around these hazards.
• Celebrate safely. Everyone in the workplace has a responsibility to take care for their own and others safety. Ensure awareness of your workplace policies and the expectation that those onsite are fit to work scheduled shifts without compromising their own or their workmates safety.

There may be other hazards in addition to those listed above that come up around this time of year and are specific to your site. Talking with workers and supervisors and looking at previous injury and ‘near miss’ data may help you identify these.

While it may not be necessary to implement new controls over this time, you must consider this based on changes to activities, schedules and roles that will occur at your site over these months. Learn from the incidents of previous years to ensure the holiday period is a happy time for all to relax and recharge for the coming year.

The rungs or treads of a fixed ladder need to be evenly spaced to avoid trips and slips and potential muscular injuries. For the same reason, the distance from the bottom rung to the ground should match the spacings between rungs.

A person is more likely to stumble if a gap between the bottom rung of a ladder and the ground is shorter or longer than the rest of the gaps between rungs.

For example, if the space to the floor from a ladder’s last rung is smaller than expected, a person stepping down may receive a significant impact.

Or if a person standing on a ladder’s second tread think they are on the first tread because distance to the ground is less than it should be, they may also injure themselves by taking one big step down to the ground.

In either case, a misjudged step caused by inconsistent gaps between rungs and the floor could cause musculoskeletal injuries requiring medical treatment and time off work.

Although current Australian Standard AS/NZS1657-1992 states ‘rung dimensions of all rungs and the distance between rungs in the same ladder shall be uniform and within a tolerance of ± 5 mm’ it doesn’t specify the gap between first rung and the ground.

Until the standard is revised to incorporate this, WorkSafe advises fixed ladder designers and installers to ensure all spaces between ladder rungs are equal and to make sure this includes the distance between the bottom rung and the base landing without more than a ten per cent deviation compared to the rest of the spaces.

What struck me above all else the first time I entered the Wonthaggi desalination site was that lighting was a real problem and one that I felt the principal contractor was not addressing properly.

Sorting this problem out successfully was in many ways the culmination of more than twenty years of working on safety issues in a whole range of roles. When I started with the Electrical Trade Union (ETU), one of the first jobs I completed was reviewing the temporary wiring course content against current standards.

This process took me a couple of weeks and by the end of it, I was impressed by the amount of detail the course contained.

I then started to complete site walks on various construction sites and the reality was that a lot of the temporary wiring and lighting I was seeing was non compliant to the standards.

A stand-out issue was the sub-standard evacuation lighting onsite. The fact that an emergency lighting system is used to help occupants exit a building safely during an emergency was a major concern. I started to develop safety alerts and spoke about this topic regularly in ETU OHS meetings.

The concern for me was that there did not seem to be any consistent approach to addressing evacuation lighting requirements on site. My experience in manufacturing with regards to lighting helped but it is easy to conform to the standards when your environment stays the same.

The desalination plant ended up being the site where evacuation lighting was debated. The builder ended up calling in WorkSafe with regards to evacuation lighting.

It was a site that had little natural light and also worked around the clock. I spent many days working with the builder and WorkSafe and by the end of the job, we came up with a model that I believe should be adopted across the industry.

To this end it was discussed at the Foundations of Safety Victoria meeting and a sub-committee was formed to develop guidance material to clarify the requirements for emergency lighting and exit signage on designated emergency evacuation routes on construction sites.

Read the guidance here – Evacuation lighting on construction sites

Precast concrete construction continues to rise in popularity, with an increase in the number of clever, sophisticated and challenging applications. Engineers are generally aware of the workplace health and safety responsibilities during the construction phase, but many do not realise there are also serious legal obligations for them as designers.

Presenters Wenborn and Dunn discussed the legal responsibilities set out in the OHS Act and Regulations during the design and construction phase of projects. They also provided practical advice on how the design and erection of panels can be safely and systematically managed.

The technical seminar stepped the attendees through the additional controls imposed by the National Code of Practice, which are stronger than those set out in AS 3850. (AS 3850 is currently being revised.) 

Major causes of deaths and serious injuries were addressed, as were some of the common causes of structural collapses. The presentation featured shocking real life photographs demonstrating the results of poor risk control measures.

The presentation then walked the audience through what to expect during a typical inspection. This includes: the importance of shop drawings, erection plans, safe work method statements (SWMS), training and induction records and certificates of compliance as required by the Industry Standard. An electronic information package was provided to CIA to share with their members and attendees. Please email construction@worksafe.vic.gov.au if you would like a copy.

For further information the Precast and tilt-up concrete for buildings Industry standard is available on WorkSafe’s website

Have you worked on a safe and successful project using precast concrete? Comment or tell us about it.

Three weeks ago I was part of a team of WorkSafe Inspectors that blitzed housing construction sites in the outer eastern suburbs.

This was the first of five blitzes that will be run across the state in 2012/13 as part of Operation SafeSite. The blitzes will saturate specific areas with inspectors and focus on health and safety compliance on housing construction sites.

It was obvious that many sites had got the message that WorkSafe was coming and fixed up their sites before we arrived. But there were plenty of sites that failed to heed the warnings.

We undertook 101 visits to housing sites during the week long blitz. On these sites there were 102 OHS breaches identified.  Inspectors issued 58 improvement notices to get safety issues rectified and another 44 safety breaches were fixed while the inspector was still onsite.

The most common safety breaches related to poor housekeeping, electrical safety, fall risks and site security.

I am still amazed at how many tradies willingly put themselves at risk by using damaged electrical leads and tools, often with the damaged leads running across wet ground and through puddles. It’s also still common to see workers walking the house’s top plates near external walls and working near unprotected stair voids. They are a fatality waiting to happen!

People often recognise that work involving the risk of a fall is high-risk work and that it requires a safe work method statement (SWMS), but many times SWMS were not being followed or were not relevant to the site.

The SWMS should not be treated as just more paper work but rather as a quick ‘stop and think’ prompt for the brain, so you can plan for the potential hazards before starting the job.

I believe that a lot of tradies think that the only consequences of a work injury is that they will get to stay home for a week or two, watch DVDs, read the paper and go back to work feeling refreshed after a good break.  They don’t realise that a lot of people never recover fully after being injured at work.

If you are lucky enough to get back to work after an injury, and that isn’t everybody, you will often have a dodgy back, knee, neck, or shoulder and may have to live with that pain every day for the rest of your life. For some people it affects their families, sleep, lifestyle, relationships and finances. Pretty much your whole future can be altered because you took that short cut on safety.

It’s not uncommon for safety measures to be ignored for that ‘five-minute-job’. Sometimes, it can be the worker’s last five minutes.

If only people working on housing construction sites could see the types of injuries and fatalities that we see as WorkSafe inspectors, they might make the connection between taking risks and getting injured or killed.

The next phase of Operation SafeSite will be held in November. Make sure you sort out the safety issues on your site before WorkSafe arrives.