Maintaining safety in civil construction

Over the three-year period of July 2006 to June 2009, $30 million was paid in workers compensation to 600 civil construction workers for lower leg injuries.

Victoria’s civil construction industry employs 33,000 people, or 13% of the state’s construction workforce, working on major infrastructure projects for local government, housing estates and other developments.

It is responsible for about 900 WorkCover injury claims each year, representing 30% of all construction injury workplace injury insurance claims.

Commenting on these statistics, WorkSafe’s Construction and Utilities Director, Chris Webb, said: “Each year many hundreds of plant operators slip and fall while getting onto or off mobile plant, often resulting in injury. At least 100 operators are injured badly enough to make claims on their employer’s workplace injury insurance.

“They may not be high-profile injuries that result in deaths or are life-threatening but, in many cases, the difference between an operator suffering just a sprain or rupturing a tendon or breaking a bone is just luck, and luck eventually runs out.

“Preventing these types of injuries is not rocket science or expensive. Keep the plant’s access in good condition, use the steps and grab-rails provided, take the last step to the ground, be careful and never jump down.”

As of March, WorkSafe’s inspectors will be taking particular interest in civil construction sites and how contractors control the risks associated with getting on and off mobile plant, excessive noise and manually moving heavy, large and bulk objects.

Webb warns: “Civil contractors need to proactively address safety at their sites and ensure they are controlling not just these, but all risks, as inspectors will take appropriate compliance action if they identify safety issues.

“Not only do the injured workers suffer, so do contractors’ financial expectations. Getting on top of the safety basics is good for workers and it’s good for business.

“Employers will have to pay up to 10 days of the injured operator’s wages and up to $582 of their medical expenses, and there can be an impact on the contractor’s workplace injury insurance premium. At the jobsite, there’s lost productivity, costs from finding replacement staff and possible overtime having to make up for time lost and a range of other issues for workmates and supervisors."

Employers and workers who follow the simple steps below will reduce the likelihood of injuries:

• Never jump down from the machine, even from low heights;
• Face the machine and maintain three points of contact;
• Use the machine’s steps and grab-rails;
• Maintain steps, grab-rails and non-slip services in a serviceable condition;
• Prevent a build-up of mud on steps, by scraping boots and regular step cleaning;
• Ensure footwear is suitable and in good repair, especially the sole tread;
• Have a procedure to safely access vandal protection;
• Have Safe Work Methods Statements (SWMSs) where a person can fall 2 m or more from the machine; and,
• Maintain the road and ground surface in compound areas in good condition.