Those exposed in the event of an incident occurring.

Transcription

1 Those exposed in the event of an incident occurring. One of the most common injuries sustained on a construction site is a fall from an elevated work platform, trestle or ladder. Another is cuts & lacerations sustained from the use of saws, grinders etc. In a situation where a tradie, or a tradie s apprentice fell from a ladder and broke a bone or lost a finger through the use of a saw, there is a likelihood of prosecution for you as a Duty Holder. The case below demonstrates what happened when a first year plumbing apprentice fell through a skylight, the consequences are detailed in the case link below. Please note the incident occurred in August 2012 and the hearing date was June That s a long and anxious time to wait for the outcome. Further information can be found on this case at the following link I draw your attention to the maximum penalty!!! Yes we are talking big bucks. Please note this incident occurred on the 13 th August 2012 and was heard in court on the 4 th June 2015 that s 2 years and 10 months of stress, anguish and anxiety waiting to know how this is going to impact your life, your family s life. Page 1 of 6

2 Let me further explain how this could affect the work we are undertaking and those involved, please refer to the schematic below. Principal Contractor PCBU Project Manager Construction Manager, Civil or Building Contractor e.g. Plumber, concreting contractor. PCBU If an incident occurred similar to what I described or is in the case summary / detail on page 1 Workplace Health and Safety could take action against all those on the left if they found reason or cause to do so. All are exposed in this legislation and all have a duty under the WH&S Act and Regulations e.g. Subbie to the contractor above. PCBU Injured employee / subbie employed by the contractor or subbie above. No win no pay solicitors acting for the injured employee / subbie Should you be found guilty (PCBU s in the blue rectangles) in the courts, your public liability and professional indemnity insurer has just waived you good bye. Our no win no pay solicitor is after blood to cover his/her costs and possibly make some money for their client. With that in mind and the obligation placed upon PCBU s in the WH&S Act (each in the blue boxes on the left is a PCBU) makes each of you liable to common law action by our friend in the black rectangle. Page 2 of 6

3 The legislation refers to a business no matter how it is structured as a PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) within a PCBU there can be more than one duty holder. No matter what the structure of the business is. As in a Proprietary Limited Company the directors and the CEO or a person who can influence the direction of a business are considered duty holders. Please understand you can t run or hide from this. My role is not to argue whether this legislation is right or wrong, it is the law. Just as the road law is what it is. Below is a table that summarises the 3 categories / types of duty holders etc. All are appealable to the High Court (at a cost and that s not a small cost). Each of us has a role to play in providing a safe workplace - If you spot a hazard - report it If someone brings it to your attention - take action Don t condone at risk behaviour - walking by and ignoring issues may result in an incident or fatality Productivity vs Safety (there will be no productivity if an incident occurs) Importance of communications Importance of following established processes Page 3 of 6

4 What do you need to do to give yourself and your business some tenure of security in this? You need an integrated system to manage safety (by that I mean it s a part of the way your business operates). Supplying the Principal Contractor with a Safe Work Method Statement isn t worth a cracker, in fact when something goes wrong if that s all you have it will be seen in the investigation as a butt covering exercise and dig you an even bigger hole. Let me give you an example of what is required of that SWMS and what you need to do to support it. On a recent Friday we had an incident where someone was hurt, the law as a consequence requires that the incident is investigated to understand why and what caused it (the objective from this is so we learn from the incident). From this we then put in place controls/processes to prevent it occurring again. that makes sense if we keep doing what we are doing we re going to get the same or a similar outcome. There is no rocket science in this guys (you need evidence to support that the above process has been done). Yes it s all common sense, if common sense existed there would be no need for panel beaters. I can hear you groan and make the following comment but accidents happen yes they do and can you predict when the next will occur and what the consequence will be. No. If that is your attitude you are now living on borrowed luck That comment or philosophy now has you in a real deep dark hole. The law places an obligation on you as a PCBU to take every reasonable step to prevent its occurrence. You need evidence that you have carried out some research and identified the potential hazards and risks in carrying out your businesses work activity, You have then in consultation with those exposed to those risks and hazards developed steps and controls to prevent them from happening. You have trained those who work for you on what the risks are and how to implement the controls. You monitor that those controls are being implemented. You have taken action when you see that they aren t being followed to retrain and correct that behaviour. You have evidence that when an incident occurs you have investigated it and taken steps to prevent its re-occurrence. The process above applies whether you use employees or you use subcontractors. The law places an obligation on you have a system and that you also have completed the steps above and more. You re not doing so exposes both your business and those is works for in an invidious position. Our objective is to see everyone come to work and go home without injury and that if something should go wrong you have the ability to provide the evidence that you have taken every reasonable step to prevent its occurrence. Page 4 of 6

5 The deadly 7 Ladders Consistently ladders are used incorrectly. I circulated some information a few weeks back that was provided to assist you in training and educating those who you are responsible for. I urge you to share it with your team again and even smarter have a tool box talk about it and record the meeting. Working Elevated Some of the things I ve seen are put simply an accident waiting to happen. Guards Grinders are supplied with a handle as such they must be used with that handle firmly affixed. I advocate that you Locktite the handles in place. As a matter of interest there is a fine of $ for the business owner and $ for the employee if caught using a grinder with the handle removed. Drop saws cannot have the guard tied back Scaffolding When erecting scaffolds if there is no edge protection, harnesses must be used. Unless you are a licensed scaffolder you cannot alter or remove components of a scaffold. Scaffold planks installed that are bent, warped and or twisted must not be used and if you see that you need to report it to us immediately. PPE The mandatory site PPE is Safety Boots and Hi Vis Vest/Shirt. No exceptions House keeping People are lazy, I watched a guy throw an empty drink bottle on the ground and within 4 steps he walked past a bin. Clean your own mess / rubbish up! Testing and Tagging Guys if getting your gear tested and tagged is such a pain get battery operated gear, it also removes a slip and trip hazard (now that s a smart idea for who s benefit yours ). Let s get on top of the paperwork / the evidence stuff that you all need and that is clearly evident in the case I ve put some information up about on the following page. Guys I don t want to see anyone subjected to an investigation, I have been through a few with clients (yes I get called in when it s too late) and they aren t fun. Page 5 of 6

6 For those of you who have been in the game a few years you will all remember the coverage this got when 2 guys were killed on the Gold Coast (Pegasus Broadbeach) when a swing stage platform fell 26 floors killing both of the tradies in the platform. You don t need to fall 26 stories to have this outcome, a guy fell between 4 and 5 metres up the coast and that was fatal. The incident occurred on the 21 st June in 2008, the magistrate finally handed his decision down on the 19 th July 2013 that was 5 years and 1 month from the date those guys fell to their death. As you can see the fine was huge and that s under the old legislation, the investigator who undertook the investigation will tell you those guys may as well have been pushed as they had no chance. The business owner got a suspended prison sentence. That means no overseas travel and if you get picked up for any criminal offence in the next 3 years you are going away. If you view the link you will see where this guy was sent to the wall by placing himself in voluntary administration, huge losses all round. The judge s summary (take a minute to read please). That penalty is now Category 1 (see page 3). Page 6 of 6