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Safety and Health Newsletter – January 2007
Safety Related Training
Safety SeminarsThe 2007 Safety Seminar series is a program of lunchtime talks aimed to be of interest and relevance for safety personnel, managers and supervisors and other staff and students. The talks are generally held in the Molecular & Chemical Sciences building on the first or second Thursday of each month. The topic, speaker, venue and other details will be provided in the newsletter in the month prior to each talk. Topics chosen for 2007 include: Defensive Driving, Employee Assistance Program, Chemical Legislation, Emergency Procedures, Managing the Risk of Violence in the Workplace, Biological Safety, Fieldwork and Responsible Serving of Alcohol. Other talks and information sessions will be scheduled as required. The first talk for 2007 is on Defensive Driving to be held from 1 – 2 pm on Thursday 8th February in the Molecular & Chemical Sciences Lecture Room G.33. The presenter will be Mark Tompsett from Shawsett Training Pty Ltd, who currently provides Defensive Driver and Four Wheel Drive Training to some areas of the University. The aim of the session is to raise awareness of what is involved in defensive driving, competencies required, typical factors involved in motor vehicle accidents, outcomes and impacts, increased hazards posed by driving on gravel / unsealed roads, risk assessment processes typically used to determine which drivers need defensive driving and how often.
New EAP ProviderStaff will be aware that they currently have a choice of either an external or an internal employee assistance program (EAP) provider. Following a recent call for tenders, the new external EAP provider as from 1 January 2007 is the OSA Group whose main office is located at Level 16, 251 Adelaide Terrace, Perth. The contact number for bookings is 1300 361 008 and their website address is : www.osagroup.com.au Please note that the OSA Group has other metropolitan offices at Fremantle, Joondalup, Kelmscott, Mandurah, Midland and Rockingham as well as networks in many areas of Regional WA. Staff currently receiving counselling with Davidson Trahaire Corpsych can remain with this provider until they complete their sessions. All new referrals from the start of 2007 must be to either OSA Group or to the internal EAP provider, UWA Counselling Services on 6488 2423. For further information on the University EAP program please see: http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/policies/eap Electrical Safety BrochureA draft UWA Electrical Safety brochure has been prepared and comments on this are invited. Please request this draft by contacting Belinda Ireland (6488 3938, safety@uwa.edu.au). Comments are required by COB Wednesday 7th February 2007. SafetyLine MagazineThe December 2006 issue of the Safety Line Magazine is now available at: http://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/newsite/worksafe/content/safetyline/wswaslmg0065.html SafetyLine is changing and the December 2006 issue contains three newsletters aimed at specific audiences: Safety and Health Representatives, Small Business and Occupational Safety and Health professionals. This edition will be the only one in which all three newsletters will be available in print, after which only the newsletter for SHRs will be printed. The other two newsletters will be available online only. Safety and Health will continue to publicise the contents of WorkSafe newsletters. To subscribe directly please visit: http://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/newsite/worksafe/content/resources/websgenl0015.html WorkSafe WA targeting eight areas in inspectionsWorkSafe WA has announced it will be targeting eight areas of work that have a higher than average rate of injury, in upcoming enforcement and educational programs. The targeted areas are: mobile plant, work at heights, manual handling, electricity, slips and trips, hazardous substances, new and young workers and guarding. Refer: http://www.worksafe.wa.gov.au/newsite/worksafe/content/topics/websindx0001.html ASCC - Draft CodesThe Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) has released additional hazardous chemicals guidance documents for public comment, including a draft code of practice for the labelling of workplace hazardous chemicals and a draft code for the preparation of safety data sheets. ARPANSA – Draft Exposure Standard for Electric and Magnetic FieldsThe Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is inviting submissions on the Draft Radiation Protection Standard for Exposure Limits to Electric and Magnetic Fields 0 Hz - 3 kHz. The details can be found on the ARPANSA web site. http://www.arpansa.gov.au/dr_elf.cfm. ARPANSA – Standard for Occupational Exposure to Ultraviolet RadiationRadiation Protection Series No. 12, the Radiation Protection Standard for Occupational Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation, has now been published. The Standard limits the occupational exposure to ultraviolet radiation for artificial sources in the workplace, considered to be a controlled environment and provides guidance on minimising a worker's exposure to uncontrollable sources of UVR, such as the sun. The Standard was developed by a working group of the Radiation Health Committee after a comprehensive review of existing international standards and guidelines and their associated scientific literature. This publication replaces the previous standard issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council as Radiation Health Series No. 29 Occupational standard for exposure to ultraviolet radiation (1989). The Standard is available at www.arpansa.gov.au/rps12.cfm Alcohol and Work: Patterns of Use, Workplace Culture and Safety ReportThe Alcohol and work: patterns of use, workplace culture and safety report was produced by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction at Flinders University. Using data from the 2001 National Drugs Strategy Household Survey, the study examined the relationship between alcohol and the workplace, including its effect on absenteeism, workplace culture and workplace safety. http://www.nceta.flinders.edu.au/workplace/documents/injcat82.pdf AVCC AUSA OHS 2007The next AVCC Australasian University Safety Association (AUSA) will be held in Melbourne from 4 – 6 July 2007 inclusive. This is the premier conference for tertiary sector OHS professional and is held every two years. The theme for the conference is ‘The Storey So Far’. The venue will be RMIT University (Swanston Street, Melbourne). Abstracts are to be received by February 2007 and Papers are to be received by April 2007. http://www.rmit.edu.au/ausaconference2007 http://www.ehs.uts.edu.au/AUSA/ Safety and HealthSafety and Health farewelled Peter Gibbons, our Radiation and Safety Advisor since January 2006, who recently commenced employment at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Peter has achieved a great deal in his time at UWA both within the general radiation program and in the implementation of ChemAlert (chemical management program). Peter will be missed. An advertisement for the Radiation and Safety Advisor position will appear in The West Australian on Saturday 27th February 2007. We welcome Liza Tunnell who has returned from maternity leave and Zoe O’Donnell who recently joined us for a three month secondment. Zoe is employed as a Scientific Officer in the Radiation Health Branch, Environmental Health Directorate, Health Department of Western Australia and will be involved in the general radiation program whilst here. University Safety CommitteeThe University Safety Committee last met on 12th December 2006. The next meeting is on Tuesday 13th February 2007.Approved minutes from previous meetings are available from the Safety and Health website. Previous Safety & Health NewslettersFor those who have missed out on our earlier editions, copies of previous newsletters can be obtained from the ‘following web site: http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/newsletter. All are encouraged to share relevant safety information in each edition to the rest in your respective workplaces.
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