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Safety and Health Newsletter – October 2009
UWA Safety Awards 2009
The UWA Safety Awards 2009 were presented on Monday 26th October
by Ms Gaye McMath
Executive Director, Finance and Resources. The awards recognise
initiatives, successful implementation of processes and
outstanding service for safety by groups and individuals.
• The Group Safety Award was made to the Building
Services, Facilities Management.
• The Individual Safety Award was made to Lina Brunini,
Co-ordinator for Dental Clinic Assistants at the School of
Dentistry and Oral Health Centre of Western Australia.
• The Safety Leadership Award was made to Professor Tim
Sercombe, Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering.
• The Safety Recognition Awards were made to the UWA
Business School for their safety related planning,
resourcing and practice in relation to their move to the new
building in early 2009.
All awardees receive a framed certificate and gift voucher
sponsored by the University Co-operative Bookshop. For further
information on the awards please see:
http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/people/committees/safety/university_safety_awards_2009
An article on the awards will appear in UWA News in due
course.
WorkSafe WA Safety Award to Rob Greenhalgh, UWA
Mechanical Engineering
Rob Greenhalgh was declared Winner of Category 4(a) for the Best
Individual Contribution to Safety and Health at the WorkSafe WA
Safety Achievers Dinner function held on Friday 30th October
2009. This is one of only two individual awards
available. Category 4(a) is for individuals with no formal
occupational safety and health responsibilities, which includes
all Safety and Health Representatives. This is a tremendous
recognition of the tireless effort and work which Rob has put
into establishing and maintaining the safety and health program
within the UWA School of Mechanical Engineering over many
years. Rob will now be the WA representative in this
category for the National Safe Work Australia Awards which will
be made in Canberra in April 2010.
The text on the awards function program read: 'Rob
Greenhalgh is a Senior Administrative Officer for the School of
Mechanical Engineering at UWA. He has also been the
voluntary safety officer for 15 years. Staff and students
face a wide range of hazards such as rotating machinery parts,
chemical substances, flammable and toxic gases, cryogenics and
lasers. Rob has worked tirelessly to develop and maintain
safe systems of work and establish a sound safety culture.
He has actively involved staff and students in hazards
identification, assessment and control.'
For information on the WA Safety Awards:
http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/Content/Services/Work_Safe_Awards/Work_Safe_Awards_2007.html
For information on the National Safe Work Australia Awards
(2008):
http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/SafeWorkAusWeek/SafetyAwards/2008SafeWorkAustraliaAwards.htm
For an example of Rob's tremendous efforts please see:
http://www.mech.uwa.edu.au/staffnet/safety
Congratulation to Rob on receiving a well deserved
recognition.
UWA Laboratory Conduct Code
A new UWA Laboratory Conduct Code has been released. A
draft of this was made available for comment from UWA personnel
in April 2009. The Code provides clear guidelines for all
aspects of laboratory conduct. This practical advice should be
followed unless an equally effective, alternative approach and
safe laboratory practice can be demonstrated complying as a
minimum with statutory obligations and relevant Australian / New
Zealand Standards, particularly AS/NZS 2243 Safety in
Laboratories, Parts 1 - 10. The UWA Code was developed in
consultation with the other Western Australian Universities.
http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/161587/UWA_Laboratory_Conduct_Code.pdf
UWA Workplace Inspections Guidelines
The UWA Inspecting the Workplace Guidelines have been revised and
are now available. A draft of this was made available for
comment from UWA personnel in April 2009. Workplace
inspections are an essential element in the identification of
workplace hazards and need to be done on a regular basis.
Actions arising from inspections should be completed as soon as
practicable.
There are a number of checklists depending on the type of area
to be inspected. The checklists may be modified to make more
specific to the work area. All areas must complete a
General Areas Checklist and then a specific checklist (e.g.
Laboratory or Workshop Checklist) as required. Inspections
should be carried out on an annual basis. High risk areas should
be inspected more frequently. Another indicator for detail
and frequency of inspection is the frequency of change in an
area. Changes may include new projects, personnel, plant or
equipment, procedures and refurbishment.
Refer: http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/policies/workplace_inspections
Safe Work Australia
Safe Work Australia (SWA) is now an independent statutory agency,
with the Commonwealth Safe Work Australia Act 2008 coming into
effect on 1 November 2009. The change gives effect to
the 2008 COAG agreement to harmonise OHS laws, as well as the
agency's 15-member tripartite body. SWA has also released
the first edition (Issue 1, October 2009) of its newsletter, the
Safe Work Australian. Included in the newsletter are
articles on
Who is Safe Work Australia?
Working together to achieve national OHS laws - An update on
model OHS legislation
Q&A with Tom Phillips
Safe Work Australia Week
The latest NHEWS
International ties with Safe Work Australia
Collaborating through numbers
5 minutes with...
Spotlight on chemicals
Refer:
http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/891B50BF-9DC2-4CBB-BBE2-EEFE984DAEB4/0/Safe_work_Australian.pdf
National OHS Harmonisation
An exposure draft of the model Act, key administrative
Regulations and the consultation Regulation Impact Statement is
available for public comment now,
closing 9 November 2009.
Refer: http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/ModelLegislation/
National Hazardous Chemicals Regulation
In July 2009 Safe Work Australia Council agreed to use the
Draft National Standard for the Control of Workplace Hazardous
Chemicals as the policy basis for new model OHS regulations for
workplace chemicals. This work forms a part of the
Government’s broader OHS reforms. Safe Work Australia
has commenced drafting model regulations for workplace chemicals
based on the National Standard for the Control of Workplace
Hazardous Chemicals.
Refer:
http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/HealthSafety/HazardousSubstances/Proposed+Revisions.htm
Haz-Map
Haz-Map is an occupational toxicology database designed to link
jobs to hazardous job tasks which are linked to occupational
diseases and their symptoms. It is a relational database of
chemicals, jobs and diseases. The Haz-Map Jobs table is based on
the 1997 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The
Industries table is based on the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS). The Diseases table is based on the
International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). Information
from textbooks, journal articles, and electronic databases (HSDB,
ACGIH Documentation of TLVs, ATSDR Toxicological Profiles,
NIOSHTIC, and others) was classified and summarized to create the
database.
The 2956 chemical and biological agents in the database are
linked to industrial processes and non-occupational activities.
Linkage indicates the potential for exposure to the agent.
The 225 occupational diseases in the database are linked to
findings (signs and symptoms of the disease) and hazardous job
tasks. Linkage to a hazardous job task indicates an increased
risk for significant exposure and subsequent disease. Linkage
between job tasks and jobs or industries indicates an increased
likelihood for workers in these jobs or industries to engage in
the hazardous job tasks. In this database, chronic occupational
diseases are linked to both jobs and industries, while acute
diseases and infectious diseases are linked only to jobs. Cancers
are not linked to jobs, industries or findings.
Refer: http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/abouthazmap.html
WHO Reduces Recommended Maximum Exposure Limit for
Radon
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently recommended a
reduction in the maximum recommended levels of radon levels in
homes from 1,000 to 100 Becquerel’s per cubic meter.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas arising from the
decay of uranium. It is considered the second most
important cause of lung cancer after smoking in many countries
with an estimated 3 to 14 percent of lung cancers attributable to
radon. It is also estimated that the risk of lung cancer
rises 16 percent per 100 Becquerel’s per cubic meter.
For further information please see the WHO Handbook on Indoor
Radon.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241547673_eng.pdf
2009 Technet Conference at UWA – 25-27 November
2009
TechNet (formed in 2000) is a group of committed Technical staff
from tertiary institutions across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji
with aims to build a strong network to raise their
profile and recognition; offer support, assistance and
advice to each other; and provide a forum for discussion.
Their main activity is an annual conference. The 2009
TechNet Conference is a joint collaboration between all five WA
Universities and will be held at the University Club from
25-27 November 2009. For further information see:
TechNet: http://www.technetaustralia.org/
TechNet 2009 Conference: http://technet09.ecu.edu.au/
University Safety Committee
The University Safety Committee last met on 13th October
2009. The next meeting is on Tuesday 8th December
2009. Approved minutes from previous meetings are
available from the Safety and Health website. http://www.safety.uwa.edu.au/people/committees/safety
Previous Safety & Health Newsletters
For 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.
The University of Western Australia
Safety and Health M350
Bus. 08 6488 3938
Fax. 08 6488 1179
Web: www.safety.uwa.edu.au
Email: safety@uwa.edu.au
F1139
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