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Expect Two Amputations To Occur Every Work Day. (Read 209 times)
imcrookonit
Ex Member
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Expect Two Amputations To Occur Every Work Day.
Feb 16th, 2011 at 6:17am
 
Guard It or Ban It campaign fights shocking workplace amputations incidents



Workplace accidents are so bad in this country that you can currently expect two amputations to occur every work day, the AWU National Conference was told today.   Shocked

Every year on average about 675 amputations occur due to industrial accidents, “ Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary said after the union’s national conference adopted a decision to campaign for new machine guard regulations.
Business not prepared to accept blame.   Angry

“ Business will almost always respond to these incidents by blaming workers and human behavior for these incidents. Seldom will their policies, their training or their supervisors be blamed.

“ And certainly they will not accept there were any design faults with machinery or work procedures.”
Delegates heard from AWU member about the horrors of workplace accidents

The AWU national conference, meeting in Queensland, has decided to resource a national campaign to raise awareness of how poor design of machinery leads to awful workplace accidents. The Guard it or Ban it campaign will be launched in the next few weeks.

Delegates heard about the horrors of workplace accidents due to unsafe machinery when Alan Newey, a survivor of a workplace accident, and now the director of Chat Safety addressed the AWU National Conference.

An AWU member, Alan Newey, lost his right dominant arm to a conveyor belt and spent ten years in recovery and rehabilitation.   Sad

The Australian Workers’ Union, Australia’s biggest blue-collar union, is holding a week-long national conference on the Gold Coast where it is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

Nearly 500 delegates and observers are attending the union’s bi-ennial conference, the AWU’s highest decision making body.

“ What we need is proper machine guarding or guarding techniques,” Paul Howes told union delegates are hearing from Mr Newey.
Campaign attacks poor machinery design.   Wink

“Our union officials are appalled by the many injuries inflicted on workers by moving machine parts such as the drive drum of conveyor belts and various crushers. Incidents with these machines have caused not only injuries but at times resulted in fatalities.   Sad

“ Our Guard It or Ban It campaign will underline the union’s position that all moving parts must be guarded ( by a machine guard or guarding technique) in a fail safe manner. Any removal or breach of such guarding must automatically result in the machine immediately becoming inoperable.

“ Our campaign will call on the Federal Government to initiate an appropriate review process, involving union reps and other stakeholders, to ensure that all the requirements of relevant OHS regulations are adhered to strictly.”


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