After a freezer roof collapses, an Abattoir worker dies in New South Wales, Australia.

6 April 2011

A man was killed when the roof of a freezer collapsed on him at an abattoir near the Hunter Valley, trapping him under ice and debris. An investigation is under way about the cause of the accident. Ice on ceiling may be cause of collapse.

Click here to read the story in full. 

2 March 2011

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has made serious efforts to implement various provisions mandated relating to enhancement of the welfare and well-being of farmers, farm labour and workers particularly those in the unorganised sector, ensuring the fullest implementation of minimum wage laws for farm labour, striving for elimination of child labour, examination of labour laws that create an Inspector Raj and harmonisation and streamlining of procedures.

For the full story read here.

amended

2 March 2011

The Union Government today approved the introduction of a Bill in the Parliament to amend the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952). Brief on Amendments to Mines Act, 1952

Read the full story here.

2 March 2011

Ministry of Labour, Government of India, is developing a National Network on Occupational Safety and Health information system known as INDOSHNET. Directorate General Factory Advice Service & Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), an attached office of the Ministry of Labour will act as a facilitator of the network system.

Read the full story on INDOSHNET.

27 August 2010

Chile to send anti-depressants down a tiny shaft to 33 trapped miners as it prepares to tell them it will take three more months to dig them out.

Read the full story on Reuters.

27 August 2010

Chile's mining regulator has shut at least 30 copper mines after a major accident raised safety fears.

Read the news article from Reuters.

Saturday 17 July 2010

News article from Bangkok Post

AYUTTHAYA : Over 3,000 workers at a jewellery factory in Bang Pa-in district have been evacuated, while 50 were rushed to hospital after inhaling a toxic vapour in a repeat of a chemical accident at the plant.

On Thursday 15 July 2010, 300 workers were taken to hospital after a fire broke out in a control room at Marigot Jewellery (Thailand) Co, located in the Hi-Tech Industrial Estate. The workers become sick after inhaling chemical vapour.
 
A 28-year-old male worker, Manoj Korbangklang, died yesterday morning after suffering chest pains. Manoj was among workers evacuated from the factory when the chemical leak occurred. However, he did not go to the hospital.
 
Doctors at Bang Pa-in hospital have yet to determine the cause of his death. After the incident, plant executives told authorities there was no leakage of any dangerous chemical, saying there was only a fire accident during construction work.
 
Despite the accident, the plant resumed operations yesterday with about 3,000 employees turning up for work. Only two hours after work started, staff suffered similar symptoms of breathlessness and fainting after inhaling toxic chemicals.
 
Around 3,000 workers were evacuated from the plant. Fifty people, including some pregnant women, were taken to hospital. Rescue workers yesterday said they faced difficulty in sending workers to doctors because plant management did not allow them to enter the premises.
 
Industry Minister Chaiwut Bannawat and provincial industrial officials inspected the plant yesterday. Mr Chaiwut said the accident took place at a building where construction work was taking place to expand the firm's production line.
 
The minister suspects a spark from the construction work might have started the fire, which caused smoke that made the workers sick. He said the plant called back workers yesterday because they thought the situation was under control.
 
Chief of Ayutthaya's industrial office Prayoon Tingthong insisted there was no chemical explosion or leakage at the plant. Mr Prayoon said construction workers doing welding work accidentally sparked a fire in a big plastic pipe containing chemical dust. The fire spread quickly because the pipe was made from flammable plastic material.
 
Smoke from the blaze was sucked into the plant's ventilation system and emitted outside the room. Marigot Jewellery is not on the list of 74 plants in Ayutthaya registered to use hazardous industrial chemicals, Mr Prayoon said. Pol Lt Col Sompit Siangsawat, a senior forensic policeman, said the vapours that workers had inhaled came from a burned plastic pipe.
 
The chemical dust contained in the pipe was hydrocarbon-based which was not thought to be a life-threatening substance, he said.
Ayutthaya deputy governor Tawee Naritsirikul said he had instructed the plant management to seal the control room and implement safety measures to prevent such an accident from occurring again.
 
He also instructed the firm to take care of the injured workers, 12 of whom are still in hospital, and shoulder all the medical costs related to the industrial accident.

Thursday 15 July 2010

News article from theage, Victoria, Australia

MARITIME Union members have walked off wharves nationwide after a man was crushed to death in a crane accident at the West Melbourne docks.

A 41-year-old father-of-two, from Dingley Village in Melbourne's south-east, was killed when a 2.7-tonne steel beam fell from a crane and landed on him.

WorkSafe Victoria said the worker was rigging a drum to a lifting device with the steel beam when the hydraulic brakes failed to operate together and caused the beam to fall. The man was a long-term employee of P&O Automotive and General Stevedoring (POAGS), and was moving cargo at Appleton Dock when the accident happened.
Ambulance officers were called about 9.15am yesterday, but the man died at the scene.
 
In response to the accident, the Maritime Union called a stop-work at the company's wharves in 15 ports around Australia, until noon today.
 
The national secretary of the union, Paddy Crumlin, said it was the third death associated with the company in four years. ''They've got the worst track record in an industry that overall has an appalling record.''
 
He said the stevedoring industry was in crisis and needed tougher national legislation, better safety enforcement, and more effective training.
 
"How can I assure partners and families, mothers of young families that they need not fear about their husbands going to work in the morning? The fact is that it's hard to make that promise and it makes me sick to the stomach that that is the truth."
 
POAGS spokesman Dan Blyde said the company was investigating.
 
"This is a terrible tragedy and our deep sympathy is with our employee's wife and family. POAGS has a safety management system that is consistent with national industry standards and complies with all relevant legislative requirements. The safety of our workforce is paramount, which is why this tragic death of one our employees today is so shocking and of great concern.''
 
He said all staff on the site had been offered counselling.
 
WorkSafe's Manufacturing and Logistics Director Ross Pilkington said five Victorian workers had died in the past year from things falling on them and this was the sixth workplace fatality in Melbourne in 2010.
 
Accidents involving cranes and other large machines could have ''horrific consequences,'' he said. WorkSafe is investigating the incident.

4 June 2010

First findings from the ‘European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks’ (ESENER) provide an insight into how European companies are managing health and safety issues in practice – with a particular focus on psychosocial risks.

The ESENER survey covered 31 countries and involved 36,000 interviews.

The full Press Release is available here.

26 May 2010

In the second of two YouTube interviews, Robert Todd, Lead Health and Safety Manager for BT Global Services talks about his personal experiences in a career working in hostile environments. He shares stories of working in high hazard situations and provides advice on what kind of skills are needed to reduce risks and stay safe.

To see this interview please visit the IOSH YouTube Channel.

26 May 2010

In the first of two YouTube interviews, Robert Todd, Lead Health and Safety Manager for BT Global Services talks about how IOSH members can become a part of the 1000 strong International Group. He discusses what the benefits are and outlines the typical events the group holds.

To see this interview please visit the IOSH YouTube channel.

25 May 2010

In China a factory worker has died after falling from a high building, the latest in a string of such deaths at the same plant.

The man, who was 19, was employed by Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm (also known as Honhai) which makes computers, games consoles and mobile phones for companies like Apple, Hewlett Packard and Sony.
 
Nine people have died after falling off high buildings at the factory this year. Two others were seriously injured.
 
Police are not saying yet whether this was a suicide attempt, a suspicious death or an accident.
 
It happened just one day after Foxconn started playing music to workers on the assembly line to try to ease the pressure on them.
 
Before this latest incident the company's founder had denied he worked his staff too hard.
 
But he had promised a plan to improve working conditions within a month.
 
Some analysts believe the factory is dealing with a suicide cluster. Once the notion of suicide spreads among a group of young people it is hard to reverse.
 
Others point out that the plant is huge; 420,000 people are employed there.
 
In a population that size the number of apparent suicides seen so far this year is in line with what might be expected.
 
But the company has admitted it stopped a further 30 people trying to throw themselves off high buildings in a three-week period earlier this year.
 
That is why one reason it is started to recruit singers, dancers and gym trainers to help off duty staff relax and it says it will employ more psychiatrists too.
 
It has brought in Buddhist monks to try to rid the plant of evil spirits and it is also building 3m-high fences to try to stop people jumping off the dormitories.

For further information please visit the BBC website.

21 May 2010

On 20 May 2010, The European Commission adopted a consultation document to seek the views of the European social partners.

The aim is to improve the directive for the protection of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields and the Commission outlining concrete proposals on how to correct the provisions which created controversy in the current directive.

For further information please visit the European Commission website.

To see Business Europe's response to the first stage consultation on electro-magnetic fields at work (Directive 2004/40/EC) then please visit the Business Europe website.

20 May 2010

On 5 May 2010, the European Commission referred four Member States to the European Union's Court of Justice for failing to communicate their national measures for transposing legislation on working conditions in the international rail sector.

For further information please visit the European Commission website.

07 May 2010

April 2010

To mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has launched its new Healthy Workplaces Campaign for 2010/11, promoting safe maintenance across Europe.

In some European countries as much as 20% of all workplace accidents are connected with maintenance and in a number of sectors over half of all accidents are maintenance-related.

For more information please see the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work website.

30 April 2010

The source of the radioactive Cobalt-60 at Mayapuri scrapyard that killed one person and left seven seriously ill from exposure has been traced to a laboratory in Delhi University (DU). As a result, DU stands to lose its license to conduct practical research involving nuclear radiation.

The toxic material, the police said, came from an imported gamma irradiator machine DU's chemistry department stopped using in 1985. It plunked the machine in a room with other scrap and forgot about it for 25 years. On February 26 this year, DU auctioned off the machine and other scrap to dealers in Mayapuri for Rs 1.5 lakh.

The scrap dealers dismantled the equipment and in the process peeled off the lead covering, exposing themselves to radiation, the police added.

"We showed the victims pictures of the radioactive material," said Sharad Aggarwal, deputy commissioner of police (west). "One of them recognized it and told us he had bought it in an auction from DU."

"We will first cancel DU's licence and then decide on other penal action," Dr S S Bajaj, chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, told the Hindustan Times.

The chemistry department head had switched off his phone and was unavailable for comment but top Delhi Uinversity (DU) authorities claimed to be as shocked as everyone else.

"I don’t know if the cobalt-60 source was procured from the chemistry department auction," said vice-chancellor Deepak Pental.

"I will institute an inquiry to see if there was any negligence on their part."

University sources told Hindustan Times that the department had auctioned a lot of old lab material in the last two-three years.

"The department sought special permission from the V-C as a lot of equipment was lying unused for as many as 30 years. We sold off mainly old instruments," said a faculty member who did not want to be identified.

Cobalt-60 is a radioactive isotope of cobalt, a hard, grey metal. It is used in cancer therapy machines and other medical equipment.

Read the full article.

April 2010

April 2010

India’s Ministry of Environment & Forests has amended the 'Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000'.

This also includes the setting up of a 'National Noise Monitoring Network' across various cities in India. More details of the changes are available on the MOEF’s website and the press note accompanying this news story.

April 2010

The Commission Staff Working Paper on Implementation by Member States of Council Directive 91/383/EC of 25 June 1991 supplements the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship.

April 2010

13 April 2010

Police and transport authorities are investigating why a railway track cleaner did not have enough time to get out of the path of an oncoming train at Kogarah in Sydney, Australia.

Read the full story at the Sydney Morning Herald.

March 2010

If you’re attending IOSH 10 in Glasgow on Thursday 25 March, at 13:00 please visit the Networks Theatre and Lounge in the exhibition area. 

John Duckworth will be presenting ‘how your organisation can benefit from a peer review’. 

This will be followed by an opportunity to network with International Group committee member Tony Connell and other International Group and Hazardous Industries Group members.

February 2010

The upgraded Standardisation Information Platform will facilitate trade in the European Union (EU) and China for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by making it easier to find information on European and Chinese standards.

The Europe - China Standardization Information Platform website is in English and Chinese and can be found here.

To read the full article, please visit the European Commission website.

11 December 2009

Oil giant BP gets largest fine in history after failing to correct problems identified after refinery explosion in Texas in 2005.

To read the full story, please click here

OSHA notice on “Injury and illness Recordkeeping National Emphasis Program” which is about the directive that establishes enforcement procedures to inspect the accuracy of the occupational injury and illness recording and reporting requirements for low rate establishment injury.

To read the full story, please click here

OSHA instruction on: “Enforcement Procedures for High to Very High Occupational Exposure Risk to 2009 H1N1 Influenza” which are instructions to ensure uniform procedures when conducting inspections in high exposure risk environments.

To read the full story, please click here

OSHA factsheet on “Workplace Safety and H1N1” – workers and employers guidance and other resources.

To read the full story, please click here

OSHA factsheet on “Crowd management safety tips for retailers” - crowd control guidelines for protecting workers during retail sales events.

To read the full story, please click here

OSHA federal registers: “Revising standards referenced in the Acetylene Standard: 9 Nov. 2009  - Direct final rule.

To read the full story, please click here

09 December 2009

A number of cancers and respiratory diseases have been reported in the area of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong, in Thailand.

The number of petro-chemical industries in the area has contributed to the increase in pollution over the last 17 years with disastrous consequences.

To read stories relating to the Map Ta Phut industrial estate please click on the links below:

The human toll

Complaint over leak

Serious impact committee

Anand slams Map Ta Phut for ineptness

17 injured in gas leakage

Six workers hospitalised

Hundreds evacuated after ste gas leak

Laem Chabang accident raises residents' doubts

01 December 2009

A Japanese hair product company at Laem Chabang port in Chon Buri is being sued by the pollution control department for negligence over a chemical fire which is suspected to leave 80 injured and one dead.

To read the full story, please visit the Bangkok Post.

01 December 2009

The Police and Fire Brigade are investigating an accident which happened on a farm South West of Sydney, Australia. A woman died and six people, including four paramedics, are being treated in hospital after being exposed to an unknown chemical.

To read the full story please visit The Sunday Morning Herald.

17 November 2009

A high rise crane was in the process of being raised at “The Cove” condominium complex when it crashed to the ground and killed 4 workers.

To read the full story please visit Pattaya Daily News.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

The collapse of a wooden work platform inside a lift shaft led to the death of six construction workers at the International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper and the fourth tallest building in the world.

To read the full story go to The Standard

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

A crane operator was arrested for negligence by the Delhi Police nearly nine months after the death of a Thai national at DMRC's construction site in Jungpura.

There have been a total of 102 casualties at DMRC sites, including deaths and those who suffered injuries, since the beginning of Metro work in October 1998.

To read the full story visit: Times of India

Thursday, 08 October 2009

The Government Railway Police, the Railway Protection Force and Southern Railway’s efforts have been in vain to avoid the spiralling number of deaths of suburban commuters around Chennai in India.

Eleven people died while crossing railway tracks on Tuesday.

To read the full article, go to Times of India

Monday, 12 October 2009

At least 26 people died after two lifts plunged down a shaft at a tin mine in the central Chinese province of Hunan, state media said Friday.

To read the full story, go to The Nation

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Taipei’s Consumers’ Foundation urged the Ministry of Transportation and Communication to establish a traffic safety tracking system for better safety of passengers. This comes after five tragic accidents involving large passenger buses took place in the past few weeks.

To read the full story please visit the China Post