OHS Newsletter September 2001

Feldenkrais

This year three Feldenkrais - awareness through movement - classes have been held for staff.

The classes were extremely popular with around 50 staff members benefiting from this relaxing form of exercise.

If you are interested in attending classes in future, please call Kerry Jaunutis on 8201 3117 or email kerry.jaunutis@flinders.edu.au, to add your name to the waiting list.

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New Occupational Health And Safety Workgroup

In accordance with section 31(1)(c) of the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act, 1986, at the request of all University employees at the Lincoln Marine Science Centre an Occupational Health and Safety work group has been established. The work group has elected an Occupational Health and Safety Representative, an Occupational Health and Safety Committee has been convened.

The Lincoln Marine Science Centre Occupational Health and Safety Committee will report to the Faculty of Science and Engineering OHS Committee.

The work group will be Science and Engineering work group 6.

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Your elected OH&S Representative and Deputy Representative

The Central Administration OH&S Workgroup 1 recently elected Alan Walker as Health and Safety Representative and Sophie Bosher as Deputy Representative. Congratulations to Alan and Sophie!

As is the case in all areas of the University, staff with OH&S concerns should initially raise the concerns with their supervisor, and may seek advice from the OH&S Unit at that time.

If any staff feel that they need assistance with further information, or assistance in negotiations with their supervisors on OH&S matters, then the Health and Safety Representative / Deputy Representative will assist.

Alan and Sophie represent staff in the areas listed: Vice Chancellor's office, Director of Administration's office, Academic and Student Services, Financial Services, Human Resources and the Buildings and Property Division staff who are located in the Registry annex.

All staff in those areas should have now received a memo from Alan and Sophie offering assistance.

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Health and Safety Audits

WorkCover requires that employers undertake internal audits of health and safety matters as an integral part of the system for managing health and safety.

The University and Faculty OH&S Policies, Procedures and Guidelines and the Action Plans of each OH&S Committee are being implemented by supervisors and staff at the University. The OH&S internal audit team must check progress with implementation and identify any difficulties so that problems can be addressed.

A three year audit schedule has been established to ensure that all of the major hazards identified will be audited between July this year and June of 2004.

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Supervisors of staff and students are responsible

Supervisors of all areas must consult the audit schedule below, determine which hazards are found in their area(s) and compile a list of those hazards. They must ensure that the risk level is assessed for each hazard and that appropriate control measures have been documented.

If you are an academic staff member responsible for research areas, or areas where staff and students are present, you must ensure that all hazards in those areas have been identified, assessed and controlled.

Assistance with this process is available by use of the OH&S Hazard Identification booklet. A hard copy is available from Chris Euripides (OH&S Unit, phone 13024) and an electronic version is on the OH&S website.

Further assistance is available from Alan Walker (OH&S Unit, phone 12094).

Standard operating procedures must be written for identified hazardous tasks. The procedures must be available to all who undertake those tasks.

Without documents that prove that these steps have been followed, WorkCover will deem that we have not achieved the required standard and this may have severe financial consequences for the University.

The audit of "training" in the first quarter of next year will check that supervisors have ensured that their staff have been informed of the OH&S matters relevant to their area(s) and that the supervisors themselves have completed the web based OH&S training package.

In areas where staff are engaged in lifting, shifting and carrying objects, supervisors must ensure that their staff have received manual handling training (contact Kerry Jaunutis, Occupational Health Nurse, phone 13117).

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Identified hazards / OHS Management systems to be audited

Hazard	Date	Hazard	Date
Electrical Appliances	July to Sept 01	Internal Audit Process	July to Sept 01
Laser Safety	July to Sept 01	Chemical Waste Disposal	July to Sept 01
Hazardous Substances	Oct to Dec 01	First Aid	Oct to Dec 01
Radiation Safety	Oct to Dec 01	Boilers and Pressure Vessels	Oct to Dec 01
OH&S Training (general)	Jan to Mar 02	Manual Handling Training	Jan to Mar 02
Hot working conditions	Jan to Mar 02	Biosafety	Jan to Mar 02
Plant safety (powered)	April to June 02	Internal Audit Process	April to June 02
Boats & Boating Activities	April to June 02	Diving	April to June 02
Building hazard survey	July to Sept 02	Screen Based Safety	July to Sept 02
Asbestos	July to Sept 02	Laser Safety	July to Sept 02
Chemical Waste Disposal	July to Sept 02	Radiation Safety	Oct to Dec 02
Electrical Appliances	Jan to March 03	Internal Audit Process	Jan to March 03
Field Trips	Jan to March 03
OH&S Policy (knowledge)	April to June 03	Response to Reports & Stats	April to June 03
Confined Spaces	April to June 03
OH&S Policies, Procedures	July to Sept 03	Implementation of Policies	July to Sept 03
Noise (labs and workshops)	July to Sept 03	Laser Safety	July to Sept 03
Chemical Waste Disposal	July to Sept 03
Radiation Safety	Oct to Dec 03
Emergency Control	Jan to March 04	Internal Audit Process	Jan to March 04
Contractor Safety	Jan to March 04
Building hazard survey	Apr to June 04	Screen based safety	Apr to June 04
Laser Safety	Apr to June 04	Chemical Waste Disposal	Apr to June 04

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OH&S Accident/Incident Summary Statistics

Accident /incident reports for the second quarter show an overall drop compared to this time last year but the potential severity associated with some of the incidents was a concern.

In the second quarter there were three serious events. Two were electrical incidents (a faulty toaster and a wrongly wired electrical lead) and the third was a metal cylinder that split under pressure and released ammonia gas. As per legal requirements these were reported to Workplace Services and investigated by various Inspectors. The investigation of the problem with the cylinder resulted in a Prohibition Notice and a comment from an Inspector that they had consideration prosecution.

During the second quarter of 2001 there were 38 accidents and incidents reported to the Occupational Health and Safety Unit.

Accident/incident statistics&endash;2nd Quarter 01

Of the 23 accidents/incidents reported by staff members in this quarter, 7 resulted in workers compensation claims.

Staff accidents/incidents table

Comparison of staff accidents/incidents for 2nd quarter of year over a 4 year period

Mechanism of Accident/Incident in each Major Cost Centre during 2nd quarter of 2001

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Workers Compensation Costs

Cost Centre workers compensation costs for 2nd quarter

Comparison of workers compensation costs for 2nd quarter of year over a 4 year period

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Electrical Appliance Safety

You may have had the Electrical Testing technicians examining your electrical equipment and leaving a signed and dated tag attached to the item tested. This means that your equipment has the necessary insulation and earth continuity (if applicable) and if an electrical problem occurs you should be protected.

Electrical testing is carried out at various intervals, dependant on the type of equipment, this could be up to five years between tests. Items may break down, get worn or damaged between the test dates and this needs to be detected. Equipment operators should carry out regular inspections of equipment they use to check for:

• Equipment free from obvious external damage;
• Component defects: accessories, connectors, plugs or outlet sockets;
• Supply Cords: inner cords not exposed, external sheaths not cut, abraded or damaged;
• Flexible cords effectively anchored;
• Security/Alignment of any control knobs;
• Covers/guards are secure;
• Mechanical safety facilities/devices are in working order - cut out switches;
• Ventilation inlets or exhausts are unobstructed;
• Controls or alarms are in working order;
• Cords are not tangled and do not constitute a tripping hazard;
• Is the environment detrimental to the safe use of electrical equipment; and,
• Double adaptors are banned in the University.

If you find any equipment that is not working correctly or damaged in any way report it immediately to your supervisor who will arrange to have the item checked out, repaired or replaced.

If you require further assistance the OHS Unit website has more information regarding electrical testing and inspection at: http://www.flinders.edu.au/ohsw/Electric/electrical.htm or contact Alan Walker: Technical Officer - OHS Unit on 12094.

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Vehicle Accidents on Campus

Please be aware that vehicle accidents do happen on campus and may have serious outcomes. The number of vehicles on campus has increased in recent times and speed and inattention of drivers have been identified as contributing factors to the accidents, please drive carefully.