Tayla De Guglielmo Madeline Bruce
TAPS CEO Michael Wakefield is pleased to welcome two new faces to the TAPS team.
The Board, Management and Staff at TAPS would like
to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued
support during 2016 and wish to extend to you and your
families our best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a
safe and Happy New Year.
TAPS is looking forward to working with you all in what
promises to be a progressive and prosperous 2017.
TAPS will be closed from Noon on Thursday 22nd December 2016
and will re-open on Monday 9th January 2017.
Season’s Greetings
Tayla De Guglielmo
Schooling: Charles Campbell
Favourite subjects: Physical Education and Child Studies
Career goals: To find a job that I really enjoy going to everyday
Job at TAPS: Currently doing a Traineeship undertaking Business Administration
Sport/Interest: Like to play netball and spend time with my family
Madeline Bruce
Schooling: UNISA
Favourite subjects: Business
Career goals: Progress in the business administration field and learn more about WHS
Job at TAPS: Business Administration Trainee
Sport/Interest: Go Power
Injuries in the last 3 months
In the last 3 months 7 lacerations have been reported, 6 of which were lacerations to the hand. Most of these lacerations were due to not wearing protective gloves, or the gloves had deteriorated to the point that they no longer provided sufficient protection. Apprentice roofers are 3 times more likely to receive a laceration injury than that of apprentice plumbers or gas fitters.
Apprentices who install roof sheeting continuously face the potential for cuts, abrasions, lacerations, hand and wrist trauma. TAPS provides all of their apprentices with 3 different gloves, as shown below, and all apprentices MUST wear their gloves for the task at hand.
The gloves shown bottom left are a cut-resistant level 5 safety glove. They provide a superior level of protection from cuts and abrasions, along with resistance from heat to 100oC. These gloves are the preferred glove for TAPS apprentices to use, particularly for roofers.
The gloves shown in the middle are a cut resistant level 1 glove used for standard hand protection.
The gloves shown bottom right are a synthetic riggers glove for use with hand and power tools in dry, wet or oily conditions. They have a cut- off thumb, index and middle finger design, which are perfect for handling
small parts particularly for maintenance plumbers. They are not intended for handling metal roofing sheets or materials that are sharp.
If your gloves are worn and need to be replaced, do not hesitate to notify your Field Consultant in advance. Field Consultants carry spare PPE in their vehicles and they will replace PPE items as soon as they can on their programmed apprentice visits.
It is also important to reinforce that as an employee of TAPS, you have a legal obligation to wear all PPE that has been issued to you. Not wearing PPE such as gloves may lead to an official warning.
Apprentices must also concentrate on their work and not take short cuts to finish work in a hurried fashion. It is important to take the required time and to use the appropriate tools to complete work safely. Take the extra minute to source the right tools.
TalkClean Sweep
Safety Alert
Devin Martin
Well if he wasn’t already going down in history as the most crowned apprentice he certainly is going to now!
At the MPA President’s lunch in October TAPS very own Devin Martin accepted the MPA Gold Medal as 2016’s Best Apprentice. This award covers all apprentices in the State and each of the 3 Plumbing RTO’s have the chance to nominate their finest.
Devin’s mantle piece is now overflowing and he has had to add another room to the house he is building to fit them all in.
Well Done to Devin who completed his apprenticeship at Smith Brothers Construction and now is doing some great things working with his big brother at Connekt Plumbing.
Proudly
A partnership between SafeWork SA, ReturnToWorkSA, Department of
State Development, and Group Training Association SA (GTA SA) has been
formed to promote and improve the health and safety at work amongst
South Australian apprentices. The project will ultimately develop learning
resources that are targeted to achieve the above objective for apprentices
working in the construction industry. Representing GTA SA include the WHS
Managers from TAPS and PEER VEET, and the GM Education and Training
from MAXIMA who are able to provide insight and advice to the group.
A number of workshops of the partnership group have been held and
on 17th November the first of what will be several focus groups, was
conducted. This aim of the focus group was to identify the safety barriers
and risks that are experienced onsite by our apprentices. The focus
group involved 8 apprentices from 4 different GTOs. A special thank you
to the two apprentices from TAPS - Dale Wilson and Nathan Taylor who
participated in this focus group.
Partnership Project to Improve Apprentice Safety
As a plumber, you probably know that the Dial Before You Dig service plays a very important part in excavating safely. If you are an apprentice, you are hopefully learning about the service as you discover the tools of the trade.
You would probably know that:
• Enquiries are easy to lodge online at www.1100.com.au (mobile device compatible).
• Asset owners send you information directly, generally in the form of plans.
• Plans provided by asset owners generally detail the presence of underground infrastructure rather than the exact location.
But safe excavation is not just about getting the plans through Dial Before You Dig
Once you have lodged your enquiry with Dial Before You Dig and received the plans, you should also ensure you work safely once on site. To foster safe excavation practices within the plumbing industry, there are several key messages to consider and promote within your team.
Key messages to remember when excavating:
• Follow any instructions provided by asset owners. These are often found in Duty of Care Statements which accompany plans.
• Take note of any required permits.
• Be aware of any exclusion zones around assets.
• Remain mindful that plans generally do not show the entire domestic connection.
• Look for clues that underground infrastructure is present, such as marker posts, water meters, inspection points and warning signs.
• Where appropriate and safe to do so, it is the excavator’s responsibility to visually expose the cable or pipe using hand tools. An accredited locator may be required to identify assets on site.
• Use the contact details provided by utilities should you require further information or onsite assistance.
Always remember Dial Before You Dig and these key messages. Visit www.1100.com.au to lodge your enquiry and for more information on excavating safely.
We would like to wish TAPS apprentice
Joshua Oliver-Racic all the best over the
next few months with his recovery.
All the team at TAPS are thinking of you!
Plumbing Pathways
What secondary school did you attend? Eudunda Area School
How long have you been an apprentice? 18 Months
Who is your Host Employer? Domain Plumbing
What sort of work do you undertake? Domestic and Commercial construction plumbing
What attracted you to the Plumbing Industry? Great career opportunities working in a team very lucky have a great boss and good guys to work with.
What advice would you give to a prospective Plumbing Apprentice? Work hard, listen and close enough aint good enough
Where was your first kiss? Haha, the Eudunda playground
Funniest thing you have seen working as plumber ‘Jimmy’ using a rag because there was no toilet paper left
TAPS Apprentice Profile
Since we have last spoken TAPS have completed another successful Plumbing Pathways and the latest crew are now out on work experience. TAPS have collaborated with ATEC to deliver yet another bunch of standout potential apprentices. The most recent group have smashed the course including the gruelling 1 ½ hour PT session with “Comando Skits”. I think we only had 1 or 2 vomit, a great result.
The 12 students have been training at ATEC for the last 3 weeks, a pre-season type course in plumbing. They have come away with EWP,
Scaffolding, White Card, First Aid, Scissor, Boom as well as some other
great skills. A huge thanks to the supporters of the program which include
Reece, Caroma, Rehau, Bluescope, Dial before you Dig, CITB, Mates in
Construction, Run of the Mill Fitness, Fielders, Back in Motion Woodville
and Jordan Plumbing who very kindly allowed one of their tradesmen
down to show the students through his van.
We look forward to the next course in 2017.
Liam Waldhuter