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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 1
Volume 16 Number 1, 2011
The AWU NATioNAl ohS MAgAziNe
Correspondence to:
Dr Yossi BergerSay Safety
AWU National OHS UnitLevel 10, 377-383 Sussex Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Phone: (02) 8005 3333 Fax: (02) 8005 3300Email: nat.oce@awu.net.au
Editorial has been supplied by the Australian Workers UnionOHS Unit. It does not necessarily refect the opinion o thepublisher. Responsibility or all editorial comment ully acceptedby Yossi Berger. No responsibility is accepted by the publisheror the accuracy o inormation contained in the text or theadvertisements.
Front Cover drawing: Kirsti Sarmiala-Berger
Advertising & PublicAtion
Executive Media Pty LtdABN 30 007 224 204
Suite 6, 110 Botany Road,
Alexandria NSW 2015Tel: (02) 9690 3000 Fax: (02) 9690 3055
Email: media@executivemedia.com.auWeb: www.executivemedia.com.au
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL 3
Th body cot syst o ipovt
FEATURE OHS ISSUE 5
OHS asphyxiatio ad wokpac adoptio
pogas
FEATURE HAZARD 9
Cocsios o ataitis
WRITE IN, ASK 14
WHO TOLD YA? 18
NATIONAL SECRETARY 20
Paul Howes
Gad It o Ba It capaig
NEWS IN THE mAKINg
Athoity i dia? 21
SPECIAL ARTICLE 23
Ov 70 p ct o psticids
too dagos to s
A SPOT OF HISTORY 26
Tiag actoy f, 1911
DEAR mOTHER 31
Th qatity o thigs
SPOT THE HAZARD 33
say
SAFETY
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2 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
Getting home safely has its own rewards.The most important reason for workplace
safety is not at work at all. Talk to your loved
ones about coming home safely from work.
For ways to make the workplace safer,
contact WorkCover on 13 10 50 or visit
workcover.nsw.gov.au to order your FREE
Come Home Safely Kit, SMS KIT3 to 13 10 50.
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 5
[A]Good OHS thinking and practiceare being slowly asphyxiated they are the victims. By armost suggestions by workers,unions or good consultants orH&S improvements are choked
by management naysayers andbureaucrats more in touch withtheir current ministers moodsthan workplace reality. Theyre notchoked immediately or blatantly.In act, that person may be pattedon the back and encouraged toraise more OHS matters. Yes, mate,good! Tell us what else were doingwrong, very very helpul. You justkeep on telling us. And slowly anysignicant discussion about OHSproblems is suppressed and killed.
The majority o workers inAustralia work in small workplaceswhere (typically) practical OHSprograms are regarded by toomany managers as a nuisance,a bit o over-the-top nonsensethat slows productivity. OHS isregarded as an irritant that willpass, like politically correct thingsto say.
O course there areexceptions, both in large andsmall workplaces, and there areoutstanding managers, but this
is rare. Usually the current OHS
speak, with its heaps o bumptiousdocuments, is all there is. Even inthe very large workplaces (hugeinternationally-linked workplacesthat I visited ater atalities),where people seemed, at acevalue, to sing the praises o theOHS system, I ound simmeringunease and unexpressed cynicism.The wisdoms ound in the worko proessors like Hopkins,Gunningham, Quinlan, Weick andReason is not actively transerredinto the workplace (in practice).One-line grabs like mindulness orThe Swiss cheese model becomesurrogates or actually doingsomething. I believe that suchrivolous treatment is, in part, anelement o the biography o someterrible tragedies at work.
[B]When you consider variouscoroners ndings (e.g. quadbikes, asbestos, explosions), orrecommendations by variousinquiries (Moura coal mines in
Queensland, Beaconseld goldmine in Tasmania), the many post-catastrophe parliamentary reports,or when you torture yoursel andread the kilograms o reportsabout oshore or mining disasters,youll note that they appear tohave been written by the samehand using the same script: more
training, more education, increasedawareness, more supervision, morerock dust (said ater every coalmine explosion) in short, moreand more repetitive talk.
Were not likely to get increasednumbers o inspectors whounderstand that they ought notto be objective and unbiased, butthat they in act should always bebiased towards those who bear
the brunt o the risk. They mustgo beyond the silly notion oobjectivity (an illusion anyway)and seek to discover what reallygoes on at work in any waypossible. But this does not meanthat they should be blinded byvested interests o any kind, orrivolous claims. Subjectivity,perceptions, egos and careerswill make up what ends up beinglabelled as the acts. Fear o what
happens in courtrooms is nosubstitute or doing good OHS.
I have worked with inspectorswho understood this and had great
Feature OHS Issue
OHS asphyxiation andworkplace adoption
programs
always be biasedtowards those whobear the brunt o therisk
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 7
whats going on in this industryand specically in this workplace.It would conduct variousinspections and hold continuousdiscussions with workers, uniondelegates (where there are any)and the unions. It would talk tothe regulator (and thereby bringthem closer to the workplace)and o course management. Itwould be a constructive partner inthe improvement o H&S at thatworkplace. The community wouldbe involved not because its theatermath o devastating foods orterriying cyclones, but because thelack o good OHS is a permanent,slow-moving menace thats killingand maiming. Ater all, these areall our amilies that work in these
environments.
The goal would be toencourage and nurture good OHSstandards, attend more sharplyto good practice and use o H&Sprinciples rather than just tomisuse and abuse. This may help
style in delivering improvements,but not many.
And the laws? They willbe obeyed by a ew, but mostmanagers will take no note othem harmonised, homogenisedor scrambled. Thats the simple
truth. Sae Work Australia and all,including the many changes ingovernments and the changinggallery o new ministers, will notmake any dierence on their own.So what might help?
[C]In my view, involvement o thecommunity, more transparency,and active interaction with unions
would help. Heres an idea: sinceor some time communities havebeen encouraged to adopt roadsand streets, parks, and oreshores,and some towns and cities havebeen linked to sister towns andcities elsewhere in the world, couldwe not encourage communities toadopt a number o workplaces intheir region?
This would mean that in
your suburb or region the localnewspaper would publish a list oworkplaces willing to be adoptedby an organised group o people.This group would meet, say, onceevery two months and discuss
to create a living sense o decentcommunity expectations.
[D]Is there any hope this will
happen?
No, I dont think so. But I dothink its worth a try. Even i theeort only generates more originalthinking and increases debate, itmay generate some momentumin the right direction. The moregood people think about all this,and think about it with both eetin the workplace, the greater thelikelihood that some practical ideaswill emerge.
Governments provide various
grants or dierent projects,such as Landcare. Why notor workplace issues throughcommunity participation in thiskind o program?
In my view,involvement o thecommunity, moretransparency, andactive interaction withunions
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8 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
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To report all serious workplace injuries and incidents, telephone1800 777 209(24hourservice).To ind out more visit www.safework.sa.gov.au
A WORKPLACE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY INITIATIVE
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 9
Workplace atalities
are terrible, lingeringtragedies that generally
dont teach anything new aboutOHS ailures. I couldnt ndanything new in the righteningdetail in the news story (inset)or in scores o Google searcheso industrial/occupationalatalities; though disease atalityepidemiology can be inormative.
I all workplace atalities inAustralia were stopped overnight,most workers wouldnt noticea single improvement in theirown workplace. Theyd still beworking in the same cluster ohazards, useless risk assessmentsand a regular sprinkling o nearmisses and daily shortcuts. Despiteregulators and politicians shriekso dismay at workplace deaths,such atalities dont represent the
main OHS problem at work.
I any regulator was inormedin advance in some detail thatin a particular industry there wouldbe three atalities in the nextthree months (or even intolerablerisk) they wouldnt know how toprevent them. Example? Think othe insulation program, which stillhas some way to go and a ewmore surprises in store. Example?Over the next six months thereare likely to be between threeand six quad bike-related atalitiesin Australia, mostly as a result orollovers.
Or think o the value o riskassessments. Example? Considerthe 60,00080,000 barrels (10,000tonnes) o the most dangeroushexachlorobenzene (HCB) wastebeing repackaged (ultimately, drumto drum) by workers in a primitivework process at Botany BayIndustrial Park, Sydney. This is oneo the worlds largest stockpileso such dangerous waste that no
one around the world is preparedto handle. This is the only placeIve ever had to wear two layers oprotection to inspect. What has theregulator done?
But it could be argued:
1. That theres not much newunder the sun, and, likeso many proverbs this onehas limited truth. There aremany new things, but human
behaviour, responses andemotions remain similar. Themore it changes, the more itstays the same, is a wink in
this direction. So it could beargued that health and saetyailures at work have only alimited repertoire o how theycan happen. Things can all,they can explode, they canhit someone or someone canrun into them. Biology meansthat workers can be poisoned,they can be made sick byvarious mists, smokes, dusts,aerosols, umes, and by variousorganisms, or example inagriculture. But the category listis really very small. Thereore,is it any surprise that thosecircumstances that kill workerstend to be rom the same list?
2. Secondly, that series o eventsthat led up to the atality alsomakes up only a small list. Thatis as an example: A Kaboody gizmo was
delivered to the actory bya truck;
It was unloaded;
Jack was asked to workon the round Linto on theKaboody;
The employer was requiredby law to provide a saeworkplace;
But the gizmo wasntchecked, and then it
exploded.3. Any such biography o
catastrophic events is likely torepeat the repetition o the last
Feature Hazard
Cocsios o ataitis:How much signicant inormation do
workplace atalities provide?
I all workplaceatalities in Australiawere stoppedovernight, mostworkers wouldntnotice a singleimprovement in theirown workplace
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10 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 11
repeat ater the last atality. Yousee the point. And inquiry aterinquiry, inquest ater inquestwill generate very similarndings and almost identicalrecommendations.
But its worse than just a small
number o work lie scripts.
Consider the evolution oan OHS catastrophe its career,so to speak. Pick one at random:the Longord explosions and res,Victoria? The Beaconseld goldmine, Tasmania? The Cross CityTunnel atality in Sydney? The BPTexas Renery, US? Walk the small,developing and oten closely-coupled steps o the growing
crisis, the insidious lining up oReasons Swiss cheese holes, so tospeak. At which exact point couldthe regulator have made a criticaldierence and how?
The ashionable and vagueresponse (nowadays almost arefex) about culture change is in my view no more than hot air:ask most workers! In practice, theutterance, Its a problem o saetyculture, has become an obnoxious
hazard all by itsel; its a deencethat diverts practical actions.
What lessons rom the atalityat Beaconseld gold mine inTasmania (or example) wouldhave helped the regulator in WAstop the repeated BHP Billitonatalities in mining? Or thehorrendous New Zealand PikeRiver coal mine explosions andtragedies? I rmly believe there are
ways, but not the current way.
Just in passing, ater all theclosely argued and well-presentedbooks in which Andrew Hopkinswrote about learning the lessons(actually in the title) post- variouscatastrophes, his last book to dateis calledFailure to Learn (BPTexas City Renery). Is that ailurereally just a one o?
The culture, attitude,
behaviour, OHS systems, Step5, Step 3 etc. are in practice poor tutorial room exercises. Theymay work, in part, in large, well-
resourced and strictly supervisedworkplaces. But since some 80 percent o workers work in small tomedium workplaces you can seethe rest o the argument.
Sprinkle into that daily clustero hazards some OHS bullying and
ear o job loss (You dont reallylike working here as part o TheTeam, do you, matey?!) and youcan see that the daily struggle byworkers or OHS improvements isdicult and personally risky.
So what would make adierence? A vivid and eectiveintolerance o small daily risk(orget the big canvases), andactively encouraging managers
to talk with their workers andunions about the pervading OHSscepticism and daily problems attheir own task.
Obviously workplace atalitiesare appalling tragedies, but overall rom most workers points oview they are rare events. Inthemselves they inorm very littleabout the real OHS standardsin most workplaces. Accurateknowledge o the constant, small,
daily risks taken, and an aggressiveintolerance o them would make adierence, almost overnight.
You dont really likeworking here as parto The Team, do you,matey?!
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 13
WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY,
ESPECIALLY FROM THIS ANGLE
The health and safety of our people is of the highest priority and will notbe compromised. At Thiess, our objective is a workplace free of incidentsand injuries. To achieve this we ensure our own safety and that of our fellowworkers through an absolute commitment to safe work practices and a healthy
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To deliver on our commitment, we ensure that health and safety managementand practices are incorporated into all aspects of our operations. In doingso, we also seek the personal commitment of all employees, subcontractors,suppliers and consultants to healthy and safe workplace practices.
Committed to Safety
Thiess Pty Ltd(ABN 87 010 221 486), Level 5, 26 College Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000
www.thiess.com.au
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14 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
The silence o theminer
None o this is going to be newto you or your readers. But I cantell you that there are all sorts o
hazards in the mine I work in,and Ive worked in many minesin a number o states. Theyre allthe same, and what else is thesame? Workers more and more arescared to open their mouths to talkopenly about the risks. They opentheir mouth and they wont havea job, maybe not immediately butsoon enough.
What the hell is the union doingabout all this?
- Miner (currently in Victoria)
REPLY: As youd know, ear o job loss is
not new. In many workplaces it actually
destroys most OHS programs. All the talk
about culture change, risk assessment,
risk management, tool box meeting and
the like amount to nonsense i workers and
managers are not prepared to talk openly
about difcult OHS issues. And particularly
about any bad news, problems, hazards
and, just by the way, avoid calling them
challenges.
The union struggles with all o these.
Youd also be aware o just how hard mine
managers make it or union organisers
to enter the mine. And this isnt only in
mines. Many o them dont support thenotion that a new pair o eyes considering
H&S matters is a good thing. The AWU
has taken some o them to court on this
matter and won the case, and still these
managers make it difcult. Its a constant
struggle.
Asbestos on boats
Ive read plenty about asbestos inmany workplaces but very littleon ships, boats and barges. Is thisnot an issue? Has it never beenan issue? Arent the risks just thesame? Or is it not talked aboutas much because the asbestosmaterial is not directly on site?
- Worker, Tasmania
REPLY: In act, much o the early research
rom the US was in the maritime industry.
Asbestos was present and still is present
on many ships, not only commercial. Im
aware o various barges and boats having
asbestos as insulation in engine rooms.
Over the years the MUA has done a lot
o good work to clean up the industry,
but its an ongoing program, particularly
with the many dierent ships that come
to Australian ports. There have been
many asbestos-related atalities amongst
wharfes over the years.
Let me know which vessel youre talking
about and Ill see what we can do.
Psychological hazards
Not sure i this will interest you.I work in the oce o a large
actory and a number o dierentmanagers constantly make jokesabout me, ask me to do thingsthat are not in my job description,
deliberately conuse me and thenblame me or being all over theplace. Theres no one I can talkto because they are all in it andthey dont think they are doinganything very wrong. All in goodun they reckon. You have no ideawhat this is doing to me. I have aconstant headache, mostly I dont
sleep well, and I mull over this lotso the time. I reckon Im stressedout and all. Is there much I cando, I mean really in the real world?
- Worker, NSW
REPLY: Theres nothing trivial about the
pressure and stresses you are being
exposed to at work. These can ruin
peoples wellbeing or 10 years at a time
Ive seen just that. First, start making a
very brie record o the occasions where
people hassle you. Date, time, who andwhat happened. Second, urgently contact
your union organiser, privately. Explain in
detail what is happening, and maybe by
then youll have a bit o a record to show
him/her. Explain what this has done to you
and exactly what you want.
Keep in mind that at times depending
on circumstances its best to get out
o a workplace thats going to make you
seriously ill. But, in my view, this should
only be a last resort and only ater some
o the culprits are taught a lesson theyllnever orget. It all depends on the top boss,
and at times they are beyond hope.
They open their mouthand they wont have ajob
Asbestos was present
and still is present on many ships
Theres no one I cantalk to because theyare all in it and theydont think they are
doing anything verywrong
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 15
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Phone: (02) 4285 1010
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Every ye
Australia.campaign
to tag an
proper gu
the regul
GUARDIT
BANOR
If you are aware of any machinery op
your workplace without proper guardi
your union ofcial immediatel
1300 885 653 | www.awu.net.a
Every ye
Australia.campaign
to tag an
proper gu
the regul
GUARDIT
BANOR
If you are aware of any machinery op
your workplace without proper guardi
your union ofcial immediatel
1300 885 653 | www.awu.net.a
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some 675 amputations occur in workplaces across
he AWU says enough is enough. Our Guard or Ban itondemns the use of such machines. We ask our members
an any such machinery. Removal of such tags before
ding is put in place will result in an immediate call out to
rs inspector.
ating in
g contact
Authorised by Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary
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18 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
1 All inquests about workplace atalitiesmust take place within two years.a) True.
b) False.c) Only in multiple atalities.d) Only in the public interest.
2 Under no circumstances can such aninquest occur ater fve years waiting.a) True.b) False.c) Depends on the amily.d) Depends on the age o the deceased.
3 All fnes or breaches o OHS must go toimprove H&S standards.a) True.b) False.c) In mining.d) In government departments.
4 By law good OHS training can replacegood machine guarding.a) True.
b) False.c) Only i at a very high level.d) Only i certied.
5 Machine guarding is no longer an issuenowadays.a) True.b) False.c) In heavy engineering.d) In the textile industry.
WHO TOLDYA?Which is the best answer in each case?
Answers:1.(b);2.(b);3.(b);4.(b);5(b).
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 19
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Phone (03) 9212 2222Fax (03) 9212 2111
viridianglass.comABN 55 008 631 356
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Brisbane 07 3319 2777
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Facsimile (07) 3829 8765
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20 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
Guard It or Ban It campaign
a note rom the
National Secretary
In the scheme o things you would have thought that machine
guards and guarding methods would no longer be an issue. Its
2011, a ast, modern, sophisticated, well-connected world with
huge amounts o inormation and knowledge at its ngertips.
So how come workers are still being killed and maimed by
machines without guards on moving parts? How is it that workers
are horribly injured because o poor or no guarding systems? Why
is an 18-year-old apprentice almost ripped apart and killed by an
unguarded machine? (SA, 2004) Why are workers still having arms
ripped o by poorly guarded conveyor belts?
Can you believe it? Poor or no guarding is one o the oldest
workplace hazards in modern industry, and its still with us today!
Its or these reasons that the AWU has launched the Guard It
or Ban It Campaign. Any machine that has no guard or eective
guarding system that presents the risks just described will be
banned.
There are plenty o ways to guard moving parts o machines,
and its highly irresponsible to require workers to operate such
dangerous machines. Unortunately, such machines are operated in
quarries, manuacturing, mining, the recycling industry and many
other workplaces.
Industry stands warned: workers are being killed and crippled.
The AWU will not accept such conditions.
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 21
Polite or ignorant?
Coroners can be a polite lot,preerring what they wouldcall substance to emotion,
accuracy to grandstanding. Theyalso hope that their Findingsmake a dierence and help toprotect people against a range olethal circumstances. Ex-coronerGraeme Johnstone (Victoria) was
an outstanding example in OHS.So any comments in their ndingsought to be considered against thisbackground.
However, the comments by theSouth Australian State Coroner,Mark Frederick Johns, in hisFindings (09/02/11) in the deatho Daniel Nicholas Madeley, whodied (06/06/04) as a result o anoccupational incident, are puzzling.
Either the man is being very polite
or is seriously ignorant o whatreally goes on in industry. Andit does matter, because coronerscarry a lot o authority. Work byJohnstone, Olle and Tasmaniancoroners (mining disasters) hasbeen very helpul.
Poor guarding
To paraphrase: Daniel was 18
years old when he died o horricinjuries sustained when he wascaught in a horizontal boringmachine. He became entangledin the machine and was spunviolently around so that his eetwere amputated by the orce whenthey came into contact with partso the machine.
This imported machine wasold, probably built between 1960and 1970 in the then U.S.S.R. The
machine had no guarding or othersaety devices that might haveprevented the occurrence o anevent such as that which took MrMadeleys lie.
Preventable and unbelievable
He wrote that this ...tragic deathwas entirely preventable and thatthe company was operating a
machine which was clearly unsae.
So ar so good. But then hegoes on to write: It is inexplicablein an age in which occupationalhealth, welare and saety isso much a part o the modernworkplace, [where has thisman been?!] that a workplacecould have existed so recentlyas 2004 with a machine thatwas so obviously unsae Thesystem o work employed in its
operation, namely the need tolean in towards the work withthe plastic bottle o lubricant andsquirt it on the work, was a majoraccident waiting to happen. Thehorizontal boring machine and themethod o its operation might havebeen something one could haveexpected to see in a workplacein the 1950s, but certainly not in2004.
I simply cannot understandhow such a workplace existed inSouth Australia in 2004, bearing inmind the existence o SaeWork SAand its various predecessors, andthe WorkCover Corporation, which,I understand, also takes an interestin occupational health, welare andsaety.
I would have thought that anintelligent strategic intervention bySaeWork SA might have decidedto target small manuacturingbusinesses in possession o heavymachinery such as the horizontalborer. I certainly would have
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Authority in denial?
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22 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
thought that such a strategicintervention would have beentaken very soon ater Mr Madeleysdeath.
However, it was not untilmore than six years aterMr Madeleys death that the
strategic interventions section oSaeWork SA nally commenceda compliance project to identiythe number o horizontal andvertical borers at South Australianworkplaces and ensure thatthey are appropriately guarded,amongst other things. In my viewthis is completely unacceptable.
So whats the problem?
Whats my problem with what
he writes? Ill group the bits thatworry me. He writes:
1. It is inexplicable;
2. The horizontal boring machineand the method o its operationmight have been something onecould have expected to see ina workplace in the 1950s, butcertainly not in 2004;
3. I simply cannot understand how
such a workplace existed inSouth Australia in 2004;
4. I would have thought;
5. I certainly would havethought that such a strategicintervention would have beentaken very soon ater MrMadeleys death;
6. However, it was not untilmore than six years ater
Mr Madeleys death thatthe strategic interventionssection o SaeWork SA nallycommenced a complianceproject.
What does this astonishmentrepresent? I reckon it expressesa studied coronial politeness no irony intended to invokesympathy or his recommendationsso they can actually achieve some
improvements. And thats a goodthing.
It just cannot be the case thatsomeone in such an important
position would not know that suchdisgustingly dangerous machines,such poor work practices, pressureto get on with the job and notcomplain about H&S standards,intimidation and ear o job lossi a worker mentions unease withan H&S matter, are all aroundus. I have ound lie-threateningconditions in some 80 per cento workplaces Ive inspected.Workers have been killed becauseo missing machine guards orpoor guarding methods during thevery period the coroner talks o,three in New South Wales alonein recent times. Workers havelost arms in circumstances wheremachine guards were missing orthere were no adequate guarding
methods. Read about the mostrecent one in Hobart and thehorrendous injuries that the workersuered.
As to the speed o responseby regulators, what can I say? Iagree. Ive been on the back osome state regulators, includingin Victoria, or months now aboutthe hazards o riding quad bikeswithout crush protection devices
and their proneness to rollover(as coroner Olle wrote a couple oyears back). Ive been suggestingto them in writing that they needto move quickly, that we need tomeet and do something, and thatthere are some things that couldbe done. No practical interest. And,tragically, in the last two weeksthere have been our deaths anda very serious injury (Victoria andTasmania) as a result o riding
quad bikes.So why is coroner Johns
surprised? Nah! I dont believe it;he is surely being diplomatic andpolite.
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Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1 23
Arecent review o over 1,000registered pesticides bythe European Commission
resulted in 67 per cent opesticides being removed rom
the market because o missingdata about their health and saetyimpacts. A urther seven percent were banned because theywere ound to be too dangerousaccording to current standards.These results are startling andhave implications or Australianagricultural workers who couldbe exposed to these bannedpesticides.
When we compared pesticides
banned in Europe with thosestill used in Australia we oundthere are at least 80 pesticidesthat are still widely used here, butbanned in Europe. This includeshighly hazardous pesticides suchas parathion-methyl, cyfuthrin,dichlorvos and mevinphos.
Gold standard
The European Commissionundertook the assessment as parto extensive reorms to pesticideregulation across its member states.Their intention was to reduce theoverall impact o pesticides on
health and the environment andindeed their actual usage.
At the same time, they alsodeveloped a broader strategy on
the sustainable use o pesticides to
encourage low-input or pesticide-
ree cultivation. They are providing
unds or research and training to
help those reliant on pesticides
to make the transition to lesspesticide intensive agriculture.
The European model,
although not perect, is being
hailed as the gold standard in
pesticide regulation. It sets a new
benchmark that simply cant be
ignored.
The obvious question is why
dont Australian agricultural
workers and pest managers have
the same level o protection rom
hazardous pesticides as their
European counterparts?
The essential dierence is that
under new European regulation,
pesticides have to be proven
sae in terms o human health,
residues in the ood chain and
the environment beforethey
are allowed onto the market.
This applies to all new pesticides,
as well as old pesticides on the
market beore the new schemewas implemented. In Australia the
opposite happens pesticides can
stay on the market until they are
proven to be harmful.
The Australian Pesticides and
Veterinary Medicines Authority
(APVMA) allows many old and
dangerous pesticides to remain
in use, leaving little incentive or
smarter, less toxic products to
reach the market. We ound that
at least nine pesticides have beenunder review or more than 13
years, some up to 15 years.
The APVMA does not have a
systematic process or reviewing
pesticides. Reviews are done
haphazardly, taking years to
complete, while leaving people
exposed to hazardous pesticides.
Australias pesticide regulatory
system is not serving the people
well, especially as the long-term
impacts o exposure to multiple
pesticides are more requently
being reported in scientic and
medical literature.
Long-term health eects
Biomonitoring studies which look
at pesticides in peoples bodies
have ound residues in urine,
blood, breast milk, placenta,
babies cord serum and meconium
(the rst bowel discharge o
newborn babies). The presenceo residues in babies means the
impact o pesticide exposures is
elt across generations.
While virtually no research
has been done on the health o
Australian agricultural workers
and their exposure to pesticides,
overseas studies have linked
exposure to pesticides used in
agriculture with cancers o the
brain and central nervous system,
breast, colon, lung, ovaries,
pancreas, kidneys, testicles and
stomach. Other diseases, such as
Parkinsons disease, are also being
there are at least 80pesticides that are still
widely used here, butbanned in Europe
Reduce the overallimpact o pesticideson health and theenvironment andindeed their actualusage
SPECIAL ARTICLEOver 70 per cent o pesticides too
dangerous to use (EU)
Jo Immig
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24 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
linked to pesticide exposures suchas paraquat and 2,4-D.
Our research ound that thereare at least 17 pesticides commonlyused in Australia that are known,likely or probable carcinogens, and48 pesticides fagged as potential
endocrine (hormone) disruptors.More than 20 o the listedpesticides are classied as eitherextremely or highly hazardous bythe World Health Organization.
In the United States, pesticide-exposed armers, pesticideapplicators, crop duster pilots andmanuacturers have been oundto have elevated rates o prostatecancer, melanoma, other skincancers, and lip cancer.
The evidence against certainpesticides continues to grow, andwith cancer being a leading causeo death in Australia, costing $3.8billion per annum in direct health
system costs, this is an area ourregulators cannot aord to ignore.
Proposed reorms
The ederal government currentlyhas some proposed reorms,which, i implemented, couldmake substantial improvementsto the regulation o pesticides inAustralia.
A key reorm is to introduce apesticide re-registration process,which would ensure that allpesticides currently on the market
would be assessed to ensure theymeet contemporary health, saetyand environmental standards.
The proposed reormsare outlined in the MinistersPolicy Discussion Paper: BetterRegulation o Agricultural andVeterinary Chemicals.
Running concurrently tothese reorms are broader COAGreorms, which seek to bring thecontrol o use o pesticides, which
currently rests with state andterritory governments, under anational scheme.
You can download a copy
o theList o Australias Most
Dangerous at www.ntn.org.au
overseas studies havelinked exposure topesticides used inagriculture withcancers o the brain
and central nervoussystem, breast,colon, lung, ovaries,pancreas, kidneys,testicles and stomach
A key reorm is tointroduce a pesticidere-registration process
Jo Immig is an environmental scientist with
a long-standing interest in the impacts o
pesticides on health and the environment.
She has written extensively on pesticide
pollution issues and also served six years
on the APVMA Community Consultative
Committee. She is currently the Coordinator
o the National Toxics Network, an
expert community group working on
pollution issues and securing a toxic-ree
environment.
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26 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
one workers used when they cameto work or went home. A woodenpartition had been built around itso only one worker at a time couldpass through. This was so their
handbags could be inspected whenthey let work to make sure theywerent stealing lace, material, orblouses. The owners later admitted
that in a year they lost between $8
and $15 worth o goods throughpilering. (The weekly wage o anexperienced male worker in theindustry was around $17.50.)
At the Washington Place exitthe door was locked. This wasusual practice at knock-o time.Luckily someone had the key.
Bernstein pushed many workersthrough the doors and was the lastto leave the eighth foor. He ran tothe ninth foor where about 250people were trapped, includinghis brother Jacob, who wouldntsurvive. He couldnt help so he ran
to the tenth foor to help between40 and 70 people to get to theroo.
Escape rom the tenth foor roo
Flames quickly travelled up thestairwell and many people romthe tenth foor had to run throughheat and smoke to get to the roo.They ound themselves about 40metres above the ootpath andnearly our metres below the top
o the nearest building. Luckily,people in these buildings were
able to rig up ladders to bringthem to saety.
Amongst the lucky ones toescape were the owners IsaacHarris and Max Blanck. Radicallawyer Morris Hillquit concludedthat that was the dierencebetween the captains o ships andcaptains o industry.
Limited escape rom the ninth
foor
Escape rom the ninth foor wasmore dicult. The door on theWashington Place side was lockedand no one had the key. SophieZimmerman said her ellowworkers took hold o the handleand they turned it and they toreit they tried to tear it, but theycouldnt. Katie Weiner said, Iturned the knob this way and that.I pushed it toward mysel and Icouldnt open it; then I pushedit inward and it wouldnt go I knocked at the door. I seenthe fames were too strong Istood at that door still till the lastminute.
There was a crush o peopleat the Greene Street door as well,and also at the re escape thatwas built in an airshat at the sideo the building. The re escapewas fimsy, and so narrow that
people could only go down singlele. To get to it, workers had tostand on a small ledge outside thebuilding nine stories above the
that was thedierence betweenthe captains o shipsand captains oindustry
exit routes wereblocked by fre
THe BrOWn/ASCH BuIlDInG, WHere THe TrAGIC TrIAnGle SHIrTWAIST FACTOrY FIre
OCCurreD In 1911.
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ootpath. Not only that, the reescape didnt go all the way to theground; it ended over a basementskylight. Beore the building wasconstructed, city ocials pointedthat out to the architect whoagreed to change it, but didnt.
Abe Gordon got as ar as thesixth foor but decided the saeroption was to go back into thebuilding. He said, I still had oneoot on the escape when I heard
a loud noise the people werealling all around me, screamingall around me. The re escape wascollapsing. 24 people ell to theirdeaths.
There were also two lits in thebuilding. One was near the GreeneStreet stairs and the other nearthe Washington Place stairs. Thedrivers made about two or three
trips rescuing people until the litscouldnt be used any more. Onedriver, Joseph Zito, said, WhenI rst opened the elevator dooron the ninth foor all I could seewas a crowd o girls and menwith great fames and smoke rightbehind them. When I came to thefoor the [last] time, the girls werestanding on the windowsills withre all around them.
People jumped and ell rom
windows
Workers trapped on the ninth foorkept trying to open the lockeddoor on Washington Place withoutsuccess. On the Greene Streetstairs re rom the eighth foorsoon blocked their way down,
although some managed to getto the tenth foor and then to theroo. Many ran to the bathroom toescape the heat and smoke. LenaYaller said when she was there,I could not make out what theydid say, simply. It was so manylanguages they all spoke inanother language. The smoke andall. And some were screaming
about their children.
The re started around 4:40pm.The re alarm was raised bypedestrians in the street at 4:45pmwhen they saw smoke comingrom the building. About 30seconds later the re alarm was
sounded by the Triangle actoryitsel. At least eight re wagonsresponded. When they arrivedthey saw people at the ninth foorwindows begging or help. But thetallest re ladder in New York Citycouldnt reach the ninth foor. Itwas nine metres too short.
At 4:50pm the rst personjumped rather than be burnt todeath. By then the re escape had
collapsed and re ghters were onthe eighth foor trying to controlthe blaze. By 4:52pm the elevatorswere on their way down or thelast time, and exit routes were
The uneral o thevictims was one o thelargest in the cityshistory
In the US, panic barswere being mass-produced by 1908
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28 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
blocked by re.
The re brigade took out theirsaety nets, although no one hadbeen known to survive a jumprom the ninth foor o a building.Nor did they survive this time.Within three minutes, the rebrigade put their nets away. But
people kept jumping or allingrom the windows and down theelevator shats. One witness said,Girls were burning to death beoreour eyes ... down came bodies in ashower, burning, smoking, lightedbodies.
Atermath
That night a makeshit morgue wasset up where relatives and riendscould view the bodies and makean identication. This wasnt easybecause many people were badlyburnt.
Two days ater the re,Serano Maltese identied histwo daughters Lucia, aged20, and Rosaria, aged 14 theyoungest victim. But it wasntuntil 18 December that he wasable to identiy his wie Catherine.Teenager Esther Rosen identiedher 35-year-old widowed mother
Julia by her braids. But it tookanother our days or her toidentiy her 17-year-old brotherIsrael.
In act, six people were neveridentied. Many young peopletravelled rom Europe to the USunaccompanied. Rosie Freedmanwas one o them. By the timeshe was 15 she had survived aviolent attack on her communityin Bialystok, Russia, and thentravelled alone to her uncle andaunt in New York City. Rosie was18 when she died in the re.
The uneral o the victims wasone o the largest in the cityshistory. One hundred thousandpeople ollowed the consthrough the streets and another250,000 lined the pavements.
A Joint Relie Committee made
up o the International LadiesGarment Workers Union, theWomens Trade Union League,The Workmens Circle, theJewishDaily Forwardnewspaper, and theUnited Hebrew Trades was set upto help the victims amilies andthe injured survivors.
It paid or the burial o sevenItalian victims and 14 Jewishones; gave money to amilies
who wanted to properly observethe Easter or Passover holidays;supervised the care o childrenorphaned by the re; secured workand housing or injured workers;and distributed money to theamilies o the dead.
A number o the Triangleworkers were the sole supporterso their amilies back in Europe.Rosie Freedman was one suchworker. The relie committee
gave her uncle $25 or her burialand ater investigating her homecircumstances gave her amily inRussia a lump sum o around $500.
The Hebrew Free Burial Societyalso helped with the burial o theTriangle victims, both Jewish andItalian. It said there is at presentno Italian organisation to take theplace the society lls among theEast Side Jews.
Fire saety equipment in 1911
These workers need not have died.Even in 1911 many re saetydevices and practices existed that,i theyd been used by the owners,could have saved their lives.
Panic bars (also called crash bars
or push bars)
Panic bars are amiliar to most ous theyre oten on exit doorso public buildings and on doorsrom re escapes. In the UK theywere rst legislated ater 183children were crushed to deathin a stampede to get through
a narrow door in Victoria Halltheatre in Sunderland, England, in1883.
In the US, panic bars werebeing mass-produced by 1908.They became widely used atera re at the Iroquois Theatre in
Chicago in 1903 killed 602 people.But they werent installed at theTriangle actory.
Outward-opening doors
Ater 175 people, mostly students,died in a re at Lake View Schoolin Collinwood, Ohio, in 1908 itbecame national policy or doorson public buildings to openoutward.
Section 80 o the New YorkState Labor Law said actory doorsshall be so constructed as to openoutwardly, where practicable, andshall not be locked, bolted orastened during working hours.
The doors at the Triangleactory were inward-openingbecause the last step o thestaircase came up to the door itsel.This made it dicult to initially getout o the Washington Place door
on the eighth foor once it wasunlocked because o the crush opeople trying to escape.
Sprinklers
The rst manual sprinkler systemwas invented in the UK in 1812.By 1864 automatic sprinklers hadbeen invented and were beingused in the US by 1874.
The building where the Triangleactory was located was originallybuilt as a warehouse. Because othat the city ocials said it didntneed a sprinkler system. Butthe ocials never updated theiropinion even ater the buildingwas converted into actories.
Locking factory doors
It was illegal in New York State tolock actory doors during workinghours. But this was ignored bythe Triangle owners, who wanted
to stop petty thet. With only 47city inspectors to supervise 50,000buildings, there was little chancethey would be caught breaking the
In New York in 1911it was controlled byinsurance brokerswho made theirmoney by selling
policies, not bylowering the fre risk
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law.
In 1911 rewalls and restairs also existed, but none wereinstalled at the Triangle actory.
Precedent
Four months beore the disaster,
25 garment workers died in aactory re in Newark, New Jersey.The exit doors were locked, thetwo re escapes were dicult toget to, and one ended in mid-air,while the other ended over theroo o the boiler house. There hadbeen 10 res in the building in theprevious 10 years, but there wereno re alarms.
Ater this, Peter McKeon,Consulting Engineer on Fire
Insurance and Fire Protection,said that thousands o buildings inNew York were o ordinary non-re-proo construction, with thesame wood stairways and outsidere-escapes that made the Newarkactory a re-trap.
Insurance
The biggest obstacle to makingthese re-traps sae was the way
insurance industry operated. InNew York in 1911 it was controlledby insurance brokers who madetheir money by selling policies, notby lowering the re risk.
Brokers collected a percentageo every sale, so they made more
on policies with higher premiums.The saer the building the lowerthe premium; thereore, the lowertheir commission. Insurancecompanies were protected romhuge losses on these policiesbecause the brokers divided theminto smaller shares and distributedthem between a number ocompanies.
The Triangle actory was high-risk. There had been three major
res previously two in 1902 andone in 1905 all when it was idle.The owners other blouse actory,the Diamond Waist Company, alsohad two major res previously one in 1907 and the other in 1910 also when the actory was empty.On all ve occasions the ownerscollected insurance.
Consequently, their response to
the re risk wasnt to install saetymeasures. It was to increase theirinsurance policies. At the timeo the 1911 re, the actory wasinsured or about $200,000, eventhough its value was estimated ataround $80,000.
The trialThe Triangle owners, Isaac Harrisand Max Blanck, were chargedwith the manslaughter o oneworker, Margaret Schwartz. Thepenalty was the same whetherthey were charged with themanslaughter o one person or 146people. Harris and Blanck hiredthe best lawyer in New York City.His ee was at around $20,000.
During the trial their lawyer
objected to Yiddish translatorsbeing used, he implied that a keywitness who survived the re onthe ninth foor was coached by theunion, he objected to details o thedeaths being retold to the court,and he argued that the WashingtonPlace door on the ninth foor hadnever been locked.
But it was the judges
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30 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
instructions to the jury thatensured the owners were oundnot guilty. He told them it wasntenough to nd that the doorwas locked, but that the ownersknew at the time o the re it waslocked, and i the door was lockedthat Margaret Schwartz, whosebody was ound near it, wouldhave lived i shed escaped throughthe door. It didnt take long orthe jury to nd Harris and Blanckinnocent.
Two years ater the Trianglere, in September 1913, MaxBlanck was ned $20 or lockingthe doors o his garment actoryon Fith Avenue during workinghours.
ReormAter the Triangle re, religiousleaders were highly critical o poorworking conditions. Reverend R.McArthur o the Calvary Baptistchurch prayed that God wouldteach employers the duties whichthey owe to those under theircare in the proper construction o
actories, in making proper exitsand in all other ways caring or thecomorts and especially the lives othose in their employ.
Rabbi Stephen Wise said thelie o the lowliest worker in thenation is sacred and inviolable,
and, i that sacred human right beviolated, we shall stand adjudgedand condemned beore the tribunalo God and o history.
The public was also critical andwanted changes in actory laws.In response, the state governmentset up the Factory InvestigatingCommittee, which carried out acomprehensive study o actorysaety, working conditions, wages,and living conditions across the
state.The Committee recommended
stricter actory codes, better resaety, better actory ventilation,improved actory sanitation,better machine guarding, theregistration o all actorieswith the Department o Labor,medical supervision o workers in
industries that exposed them totoxic chemicals, and special saetymeasures or oundries, bakeries,and shops.
Although industry objectedthat its recommendations wouldbe costly and inconvenient,
the Committee represented asignicant point in the long andongoing struggle or the basichuman right a sae place owork.
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32 Say Safety 2011Vol 16 No 1
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Sp
t
the HAZARD
1. ...............................................................................................................................2. ...............................................................................................................................3. ...............................................................................................................................
HAZARD
Start rom the centre then careully and systematically check out each square one at a time, say,clockwise. Ask yoursel, Do I understand whats going on? How would I explain whats happening in
the photo?
Yossi Berger
7/31/2019 1697_Say Safety v161 2011 LOWRES
36/36
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