Australasian Institute of Dangerous Goods Consultants (AIDGC)

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The Dangerous Goods Report

Workplace Fatalities show need for OHS Harmonization

The need for nationally consistent OHS standards across all Australian jurisdictions must be a leading priority, reports ACEA.
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Chemical Spill at Bexley, Sydney NSW

The HAZMAT Response Unit was called in to clear up hydrochloric acid which fell from the back of a truck.
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Bug found which breaks down Arsenite

This bug provides hope of developing an efficient biological method for cleaning up thousands of arsenic and DDT stock dip sites, places where arsenic-treated timber posts have been made or used, sites of old railway lines, as well as old gold-mining regions where arsenic is flushed from tailings into surface and groundwater thereby posing a risk to anyone who drinks the water.
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Biodiesel - $48 million Darwin Plant ceases production

Just six months after Australia's first biodiesel shipment left Darwin, the factory has ceased fuel production due to rising costs and switched to the production of pharmaceutical glycerine.
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Biodiesel - US company ruined by rising soybean prices

The company went out of business leaving an unfinished 300 ML per year biodiesel plant at a time when light sweet crude oil was over US$100 per barrel.
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Workcover at work around Australia

The Workplace Relations Minister's Council Comparative Performance Monitoring Report (2008) provides the latest available statistics (2005-2006) on enforcement by the various workplace statutory authorities within Australia:

  • 114,000 visits were made to workplaces.
  • 67,200 notices were issued. 6,918 prohibition notices as well as 1,769 infringement notices and 58,517 improvement notices were issued.
  • Queensland issued 16,463 improvement notices, NSW issued 14,832 and the Commonwealth issued 12.
  • Over 900 businesses were prosecuted.
  • $23 million in fines were imposed by the courts. NSW imposed the largest amount of fines (just under $14M), followed by Queensland and Vic (around $3M each).
  • NSW had 340 prosecutions resulting in conviction, almost 200 more than the next highest jurisdiction (Queensland with 143).
  • Victoria has recorded the largest fall in the total number of workplace interventions over the past five years. WorkSafe Victoria's enforcement focus has shifted from a 60/40 proactive to reactive intervention ratio to 80/20. (Victoria also enjoys the lowest injury/illness rate in the country). (Note: Proactive interventions are defined as all workplace visits that have not resulted from a complaint or workplace incident. Reactive interventions are defined as attendances at work sites following notifiable work injuries, dangerous occurrences or issuing of notices where comprehensive investigation summaries are completed.)
  • There were 301 field active inspectors in NSW, 236-Vic, 206-Qld, 103-WA, 89-SA, 29-Tas, 12-NT, 12-ACT and 22 inspectors for the Commonwealth.

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Chemical and Plastics Regulation

Regulation of chemicals and plastics in Australia is complex, fragmented, and with inefficiencies - according to a draft report released by the Productivity Commission for public comment before a final report is issued in July 2008.

The report responds to a request by the Australian Government to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory framework and to provide input to a special Ministerial Taskforce to develop a streamlined system of regulation.
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Man doused with Sulphuric Acid

This incident occurred when the off-loading hose broke as a truck driver and a plant employee were off-loading 93% sulphuric acid from a tanker into a tank at a power plant. The truck driver suffered chemical burns to over 90 percent of his body.
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Sugar company explosion and fire

At least five elements are necessary for a dust explosion:

  1. Presence of a combustible dust e.g - fine sugar, flour, plastic, starch, aluminum dust.
  2. A source of oxygen - e.g. air.
  3. The dust needs to be dispersed into the atmosphere.
  4. An energy source to ignite the dust/air mixture.
  5. Confinement e.g. within building rooms, process equipment, dust extraction ductwork.

An important attribute of dust explosions is potential propagation. A relatively small primary event can stir up a larger cloud of accumulated dust with catastrophic effects.
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Caustic Potash spill on Brisbane motorway

The Gateway Motorway was closed in both directions after 900 litres of a potassium hydroxide solution spilt from a truck onto the road in peak hour traffic. The QFRS used a neutralizing agent and built a mini-dam to stop run-off from the scene.
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Probe after airline pumps wrong gas into jet

The Australian Safety Transport Bureau confirmed that Qantas engineers accidentally put nitrogen into the emergency oxygen tanks of a Boeing 747 passenger jet at Melbourne Airport via a mislabelled nitrogen supply rig.
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Static electricity blamed for petrol pump fire

Despite adjacent warning signs, static electricity reportedly caused flammable vapours to ignite at a petrol station during filling of a metal can which was placed on the plastic lined tray of the truck.
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Recent victorian worksafe prosecution

An employer was convicted of failure to conduct a risk/hazard identification consequent to a fire and explosion which occurred at an oil recycling facility, with a fine of $60,000 plus costs.
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Resources

BP fine over refinery blast may be more than US$2 billion

Fines could be more than $US 2 billion, dwarfing the $US 50 million being proposed in a plea agreement.
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A video, 'Anatomy of a Disaster' is available which describes causes of the 2005 catastrophe and outlines key regulatory, managerial and cultural safety lessons.

Tank decontamination crucial

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Static fires at retail petrol stations

The facts and myths about fires caused by static electricity and mobile phones are examined.
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