Friday 23rd April 2021

Parks Victoria fined $100,000 over serious injuries. 

On Monday, Parks Victoria was issued a $100,000 fine after two men were seriously injured when riding motorbikes within a nature reserve.

The incident occurred within Narrawong Flora Reserve in November 2018. The men were riding at estimated speeds between 70 and 80km/h when they struck two cable barriers.

One man sustained fractured vertebrae, fractured pelvis and internal injuries.

The other man broke his collarbone and arm, fractured his wrist and tore cartilage in his ribs.

The cable barriers that were suspended across the track define seasonal road closures between the Queen's birthday and Melbourne Cup weekends.

Despite publishing reopening dates for the roads, Parks Victoria had not removed the barriers due to a lack of staff. The court was also informed there were no inspection regimes in place for the barriers.

'It's up to all duty holders to ensure that members of the public and other persons are not exposed to health and safety risks on sites they manage and control,' said Julie Nielsen, WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety.

View the complete article on the WorkSafe VIC website.

SafeWork SA audit campaign identifying critical areas of concern. 

SafeWork SA audit campaign on residential construction sites kicked off six weeks ago. The main focus for the campaign is falls management, and already key trends have been identified across the board.

The campaign commenced on 1 March 2021. Inspectors have identified 46 breaches, issued 22 prohibition notices and 19 improvement notices associated with managing the risk of falls.

Common themes identified so far include non-compliant scaffolding, unsafe use of ladders, poor contractor management, working on the live edge of a roof without controls and open voids.

'While it may seem like a house roof is not very high, statistics show that 90% of serious injuries in 2020 were sustained from falls below 3 metres,' said SafeWork SA Executive Director Martyn Campbell.

Mr Campbell also stated, 'Builders need to understand they have the same duty of care for contractors as their own direct workers and cannot pass the risk down to contractors'.

Read the original article can be read on the SafeWork SA website.