OHS:Ten Queensland Rides Given Prohibition Notices
Amusement ride safety has once again become a hot topic after a young child was flung 10m from a frisbee ride only a few weeks ago.
Carnival Land Amusements, the ride operator, had recently passed an official audit conducted by Workplace Health and Safety when the accident occurred.
In order to maintain safety standards, OHS inspectors frequently do random audits at shows,carnivals and fetes — where they assess the rides against the Amusement Devices National Auditing Tool.
Currently over 200 inspectors are employed and continue to conduct audits on rides all over the country– with 663 assessments last year alone.
The peak industry body, the Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association has also developed a private audit – AMSAFE – through which members can gain another safety “tick”.
Amusement ride inspecting engineer of 13 years Brian Bradley said most operators maintained their equipment and complied with the regulations
Mr Gidlow said a Prohibition Notice was reserved for rides that were likely to cause injury or illness.
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Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/ten-amusement-rides-found-to-be-dangerous-and-temporarily-shut-down-last-year/story-fnii5v70-1226650511597
Occupational Health and Safety: Mining Company’s Actions Prompts Water Quality Concerns
Illwarra Community members gathered together in Waratah Rivulet to inspect a cracked riverbed. It is believed that the cracking was a consequence of long wall mining in the area.
Some of the inspectors included environmental lobby group Friends of the Stonefly, and NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.The community members were concerned with the water quality of the rivulet which acts as a source of drinking water for southern Sydney and northern Illawarra residents.
There are also concerns that the beauty of the area has been damaged by cracks being filled with polyurethane. The community have cited concerns with the continuous trend of mining companies entering communities, leaving massive damage, and then attempting to fix the damage they’ve caused.
The rivulet has been unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years, but now large slabs of stone are eroding and falling off.
Jennifer Morgans from Peabody Energy Australia (the Mining company in Waratah Rivulet), stated that the damage can be observed from areas where the company has not mined.Morgans stated that the polyurethane is a proven method of dealing with these types of issues without affecting the water quality.
Source : http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/12/15/3391612.htm?site=illawarra
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Problems Companies Face When They Don’t Take OHS Regulations Seriously
The poor economy has many companies trying to find ways to cut expenses and save money in the daily operation of their businesses. Unfortunately, some of these companies decide to save money by refusing to follow OHS safety regulations, thinking they can save money on training and other safety aspects. The reality however is that companies who fail to take the OHS regulations seriously may be opening themselves to a whole host of problems that could leave the company in financial turmoil and embroiled in court battles.
Safety in the workplace is the right of every employee who works for your company and OHS is the entity that was established by the Australian government to see that every workplace is as safe as reasonably possible. Ignoring the guidelines and regulations will create more problems for a company than many companies can handle. Here are just some of the problems a company may face when they don’t take OHS guidelines seriously.
OHS Regulations & Work Stoppages
If you are not complying with OHS regulations then OHS has the right to close down your business until you do comply with those regulations. If you consider how much losing a day of production or work may cost your company it is easy to see that the money you think you are saving is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money you will be losing if your business is shut down for a week or even a day.
In addition, to losing production and the money that it generates you can also lose clients or customers. Your customers are not going to want to work with a company that can’t deliver their orders due to avoidable work stoppages.
No OHS Training Equals Devastating Fines
If you think work stoppages will be expensive that is nothing compared to the fines your company may face if a worker gets seriously injured and it is determined the reason was because your company failed to provide adequate safety training or failed to have the correct safety procedures in place. In a recent court decision made just this week (August 10) a mining company was fined $90,000 dollars for failing to provide proper training or follow proper safety procedures and these fines are sure to get larger the more companies who ignore the OHS regulations.
Such high fines could well result in your company failing to make a profit or worse having to close their doors because they can no longer afford to keep producing. And these fines don’t include individual law suits that may be filed by workers who are injured or families of workers who died due to your failure to take the OHS regulations seriously.
There really is no need for any company to go through any of these problems. OHS guidelines are clearly laid out and there are a variety of OHS safety training courses available to both you and the employees to help ensure that everyone understands what safety procedures need to be followed in order to make the work place safe for everyone.
In the long run following those OHS regulations will save you money, time, and help keep your employees safe and your business productive. So isn’t it time you started taking those regulations seriously?
