Notícias vindas da Austrália
01. Web seminário sobre Homicídios industriais
Next week - April 4: Industrial Manslaughter Webinar
Queensland and the ACT have already introduced industrial manslaughter laws, and it's Labor Party policy in Tasmania and South Australia to introduce similar legislation.
In Victoria we do not have this legislation, and it's clear we need it. After last week's tragic events, seven workers have been killed at work this year. Currently there is little justice for the workers who were killed, their families, their co-workers and the community. Our current laws do not provide enough of a deterrent and ultimately send the wrong message: that a workplace fatality is just the cost of doing business.
Join us on Wednesday, April 4, at 7.00 pm, as we discuss VTHC's Industrial Manslaughter campaign: what it is, what we are asking for, and how you can get involved. We will be providing practical guidance and tools on how to do this. This webinar will be co-hosted by Paul Sutton, Lead Organiser of the OHS Unit at VTHC, who is heading the industrial manslaughter campaign. Register here right now!
02. Comitê do Senado Australiano discute mortes na indústria
Senate committee to look into industrial deaths
The Education and Employment References Committee has been directed to inquire into whether the limited harmonisation of WHS laws and the increasing use of temporary workers are hampering the prevention of workplace deaths. Federal Labor Senator Anne Urquhart this week moved for the Senate committee to conduct an inquiry into the "framework surrounding the prevention, investigation and prosecution of industrial deaths in Australia".
The committee will consider:
- the "effectiveness and extent of the harmonisation of workplace safety legislation between the states, territories and Commonwealth";
- jurisdictional issues where safety investigations cross state and territory borders;
issues relating to the chains of responsibility between the jurisdictions;
safety implications resulting from the increased use of temporary and labour-hire workers;
- the roles of employers and unions in creating safety cultures;
- the effectiveness of penalties for offences relating to serious incidents like fatalities; and
- any other related matters.
Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Senator James McGrath, stressed that all side of politics "are united on the need to prevent deaths and injuries in the workplace", but raised concerns about making additional references to the busy Senate committees. The Committee is due to report by September 20, 2018
03. Auditoria das licenças para o trabalho de remoção de asbestos
QLD: New scrutiny for asbestos removalists
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has announced it has stepped up its audit of licenced asbestos removalists, targeting those with poor records when it comes to compliance. Licenced asbestos removalists with a history of repeated poor practices are being comprehensively assessed by a team of specialist inspectors to determine whether its licence will be kept (and under what condition), suspended or cancelled. Already this year, one operator has had its licence cancelled. Read more
04 Sensibilidade na exposição a múltiplos produtos químicos
Multiple chemical sensitivity rates triple in 10 years
The number of people diagnosed with potentially disabling multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) has grown by 300 per cent in a decade, with three in five sufferers taking sick leave or leaving a job due to fragranced products in the workplace, an Australian expert has found.
From a cross-sectional survey of 1,137 adults in the US, University of Melbourne Professor of civil engineering Dr Anne Steinemann found 12.8 per cent had been medically diagnosed with MCS and 25.9 per cent reported experiencing chemical sensitivity. She also found that 70.3 per cent of people with diagnosed MCS are not able to access places that use fragranced products such as air fresheners because of the severity of their symptoms, and 60.7 per cent lost work days or a job in the year leading up to the survey due to illness from workplace fragranced products.
According to the study, products or circumstances that trigger reactions in people with diagnosed MCS include: air fresheners and deodorisers (67.6 per cent of sufferers); scented laundry products coming from dryer vents (57.9 per cent); being in a room recently cleaned with scented products (67.6 per cent); being near someone wearing a fragranced product (65.5 per cent); and general fragranced consumer products (73.1 per cent).
Over 70 per cent of MCS sufferers favour fragrance-free workplace policies - and given the increasing prevalence, this is something employer should be considering.
Read more: Steinemann, A. National Prevalence and Effects of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, [Open access] Volume 60, Issue 3, March 2018. More on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Perfumes in the workplace Source:OHSAlert
05 Baixos níveis de exposição a chumbo e risco de doenças cardiovasculares
Heart disease risk from lead at very low exposures
Exposure to lead at levels a fraction those permitted in UK (and Australian) workplaces puts workers at a greatly elevated and previously grossly under-estimated risk of deadly heart disease and other health effects, a study has found.
The US study tracked over 14,000 people over about 20 years. It found that those individuals in the top 10 per cent for their initial blood lead concentration had a 37 per cent increase in all-cause mortality and a 70 per cent increase in cardiovascular disease mortality compared to those with a blood lead concentration falling in the lowest 10 per cent. According to the study, the 20 per cent with the lowest lead levels had a blood lead concentration of 1.0 micrograms per decilitre, while in the top 10 per cent this corresponded to a concentration of 6.7 micrograms per decilitre.
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sets a recommended action level of 50 micrograms per decilitre for men and 25 micrograms per decilitre for women. In Australia, the corresponding 'action' levels (at which workers must be removed) are the same (50 micrograms per decilitre) for all men and women not of child-bearing age, 20 micrograms per decilitre for women of childbearing age, and 15 micrograms per decilitre for breast-feeding or pregnant women.
While a link between lead exposure and high blood pressure has been known for decades, the magnitude of the effect on cardiovascular mortality - particularly at low levels of lead exposure - was much greater than anticipated, according to Dr Bruce Lanphear, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University and lead author of the study. "There's no safe threshold," Lanphear said. "Once we found that there was a risk across the entire range of exposures, we could estimate the number of attributable deaths." This indicated lead related deaths were at "about 10 times" previous estimates. "We've made tremendous progress in reducing these exposures in the past four to five decades," Lanphear added. "But our blood levels are still 10 to 100 times higher than our pre-industrial ancestors." According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures published in March 2017, 1,030 male workers were found in the preceding year to have blood lead levels in excess of 25 milligrams of lead per decilitre blood, suggesting they are at a massively increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heart failure.
Read more: BP Lanphear, et al. Low-level lead exposure and mortality in US adults: a population-based cohort study, [Open Access] The Lancet Public Health, published Online First, 12 March 2018. CNN Health. Exposure to Lead in Great Britain 2016: Medical Surveillance of Blood-Lead Levels in British Workers 2015/16, March 2017. More on the hazards of lead. Source: Risks 842
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