Businesses urged to review safety procedures

After a spate of workplace incidents, businesses have been urged by WorkCover NSW to review their safety procedures. One worker is dead and three others have been injured in separate incidents. The General Manager of WorkCover’s Work Health and Safety division, John Watson, said it had been a terrible start to the new financial year with regard to work health and safety and urged all employers and workers to make safety their number one priority.

“The new financial year is the perfect time for businesses to review their work procedures and consult staff about workplace safety.”

The first incident occurred on Thursday evening when a 60-year-old make truckdriver was run over at Taralga north of Goulburn. Initial enquiries indicate that the truck driver was adjusting the brakes on the prime mover after they had become locked. The truck driver pulled the truck over on a crest with a slight down gradient when the brakes released, causing the truck to roll forward onto the truck driver. The truck driver died at the scene.

The second incident occurred on Friday morning when a male worker suffered spinal and head injuries after they were reported to have fallen while attaching a tarp to a skip bin at a waste recycling centre at Mortdale. The worker was reported to have been standing inside the skip bin on top of the waste material while tarping it for transport to a recycling centre when they fell approximately 2.5 metres onto the ground. The worker was transferred to St George Hospital.

The third incident also occurred on Friday morning when two workers at Parkes suffered serious burns when a light inside the tank they were working in is reported to have short-circuited, causing fumes inside the tank to ignite. One worker is reported to have serious burns to their face while the other is reported to have burns to their legs and arms.