Resource Library
In the News
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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
- 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.
View article - 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.
View article - Sugar company explosion and fire
-
At least five elements are necessary for a dust explosion:
- Presence of a combustible dust e.g - fine sugar, flour, plastic, starch, aluminum dust.
- A source of oxygen - e.g. air.
- The dust needs to be dispersed into the atmosphere.
- An energy source to ignite the dust/air mixture.
- 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View article - 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.
View articleA 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
- Static fires at retail petrol stations
-
The facts and myths about fires caused by static electricity and mobile phones are examined.
View article - Click here to receive your FREE DVD