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By BR - Seton Product Manager, on August 27th, 2010
What’s the purpose of this Blog? – Seton Australia has been a major player in providing Australian workplace safety solutions for the past 15 years. Located in Regents Park NSW we like to think of ourselves as the safety product experts. Recently we created this blog in addition to our standard product website in order to provide customers with safety news, tips and help with product solutions relating to workplace safety.
Contributors – Contributors to the blog will mainly consist of our Seton marketing staff and product management team. Between the team there is a wealth of knowledge in various safety topics and safety product groups. We also provide a service that allows you to ask a specialised safety expert a question. This could be any question relating to workplace safety or you specific company safety situation.
Updates - in order to get notified of new posts we strongly encourage you to subscribe to our blog using the email subscribe form on the right or alternatively follow us on Twitter or Facebook as every new post will be broadcasted automatically.
We hope you find our Blog informative and as always at Seton Australia we would love to hear your feedback.
Brett
E-Business Manager
By Seton Safety Equipment, on May 1st, 2012
Nitin from ACT asked:
Hi! My house in Canberra has 9 steps (about one meter wide each), and I am a bit concerned about the tiles getting slippery due to frost in winter. Hence thinking about using the non-slip tape – either the white (the steps have light grey-brown tiles) or luminescent tapes. Can you please advise which tapes would suit, the cost and how I could order them? Thanks! Nitin Canberra
Seton offers a range of solutions, we could suggest:
Anti-Slip Spray in White $21.50 per can or you could also use something like Seton walk Anti Slip Tape in Yellow, there is a range of width sizes in the tape. The thinnest is 50m x18M Roll at $129.00 per roll.
More Pricing & ordering etc can be seen on the above link or can call seton customer service 1800 651 173.
By Seton Safety Equipment, on February 20th, 2012
Taufik from SA asked
Do you know if there is Australian or global standard for the wheel chock? Especially certain size of wheel chocks for certain tires? Highly appreciate if you can attach the standard. Thanks
A response from the supplier of Checker Chock,
There are amazingly no standards for wheel chocks except in cetain industries such as aviation but they are very broad. we have a set of general recommendation for the Checkers wheel chocks and some user guidelines
recommendations with 2 chocks in use:
UC1700 – for up to 0.8m tyres and 5 tonne
UC1400-4.5 – for up to1.2m tyres and 15 tonne
UC1400-6 – up to 1.2m tyres and 30 tonne
UC1500-4.5 – up to 1.2m tyres and 15 tonne
UC1500-6 – up to 1.2m tyres and 30 tonne
MC1909 – up to 1.6m tyres and 60 tonne
MC1910 – up to 2..6m tyres and 200 tonne
MC1912 – above 2.6m tyres and up to480 tonne
MC1911 – above 2.6m tyres and up to 480 tonne on steep grades or 600 tonne with 4 chocks
By Seton Safety Equipment, on February 3rd, 2012
Matt from VIC asked
Hi Col, we are about to start a weed spraying program on public land and need to display appropriate signage, can you please advise where I should start looking. We normally work on private property and don’t require signage. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards Matt
“Col’s response: G’day Matt, it certainly can be quite an info-chase finding out what is needed here. I can only point you in a few directions, but I’ve also found a source of information that I think will be “spot-on” for you.
First off, I suggest you should be pretty insistent that your client provides as much information as possible on things like required or desirable signage. I’d expect the client to be aware of some general requirements and it’s fair and reasonable for you to be provided with all they know about what is expected. The key issue of course is whether your client has insisted on a particular herbicide be used for the job; that clearly has lots of implications for what type of information or signage you will need to use, if any.
The second bit of advice is making contact with the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) on their general contact number, 136 186. As best as I understand it DPI provides general support and has over-arching responsibilities for herbicide use on private and public land. When you ring that number, select the general enquiries menu option and tell the advisor in which region you have to do the spraying, and ask for the contact number for the DPI Chemical Standards Officer for that region. This will be a good start on understanding the obligations you may have. But there is a third thing I’d suggest you do before that call.
That 3rd thing is premised on knowing what herbicides you have been told to use. Grab some and check the safety info supplied with the product. Also grab a copy of the material data safety sheet for the product (often abbreviated to MSDS). You can ask for a copy of the MSDS from the supplier, and if they don’t have one, “Uncle Google” is going to be handy. Plonk in the product name with “MSDS” added to the search field and you should have no problem getting a downloadable PDF for the product.
MSDSs will be full of lots of technical info you may not be able to use at first, but the better ones (the quality of them can vary) will have good safety precaution information. I’ve suggested you get this information before talking to the Chemical Standards Officer for the region you’ll be working in so you will be pre-armed with the basic stuff before talking to the person; meaning you are likely to get better value from that conversation. It’s a common legal obligation to keep copies of MSDSs for all hazardous substances used in a workplace, and it has to be said, that they tend to be stuffed away somewhere and not used much. Better operators know better. Get used to looking through the MSDS and becoming familiar with how they are set-out. Don’t expect to understand the implications of all the information in a MSDS, the value in getting used to MSDSs is they will start to get you familiar with terms that will be helpful once you get more acquainted with the sources of more detailed safety information.
By Seton Safety Equipment, on February 2nd, 2012
Peter from QLD asked
As a metal roofing manufacturer we are often asked to supply steel slings for crane lifts on sites. Can you tell me if there is a legal safety requirement as to who supplies slings? I know Dogmen are responsible for checking sling suitability and condition but are crane companies required to supply their own slings.
Col’s response: G’day Peter. I’ve had a look through all the legislation and guidance material I can see that would be relevant, and from that review I don’t see anything that suggests that you, as the roofing supplier, would have obligations to provide crane slings. It’s custom and practice for the person providing the crane to also provide the lifting gear used with it, but I understand that in very rare circumstances a materials supplier will have a load pre-rigged for a lift at site.
There is nothing I could find in the QLD legislation (or any other Australian OHS legislation for that matter) that specifically mentions who has to provide the rigging gear for a load. But I’d suggest that the primary duty in section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, and good old common sense, tells us that a crane operator and crane owner would be hard pressed to satisfy the primary duty for safe operation of the crane if the operator in particular, is not fully acquainted with the capacity, history and condition of slings etc used with the crane (obviously, with the critical input from the “doggy”). I’d add that the WHS Act continues the previous definition of plant to include the rigging used with a crane, meaning that overall safe operation of the crane includes thorough knowledge of the rigging gear’s capacity and performance.
In summary, it seems there is nothing specifically precluding a supplier providing the rigging and gear with the product, but I’d suggest it’s a practice that is fraught with the potential for critical judgements and assessment of the gear used for the lifting operation to be dispersed amongst too many people, in turn, that only seems to provide too much scope for something to go wrong.
I’ve included a link below to the QLD Code of Practice for mobile cranes that has been continued in operation with QLD adopting the national WHS legislation.
http://www.deir.qld.gov.au/workplace/resources/pdfs/mobile-crane-cop-2006.pdf
Cheers”
By Seton Safety Equipment, on January 9th, 2012
Toni from QLD asked:
Your Safety Question: We have recently been asked to only use platform ladders on a client’s site. Are there any circumestances where it is a legislative requirement to use platform ladders instead of other ladders? I’m guessing that the reason that the Client may have this as their policy is because platform ladders are considered safer? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter. Many thanks.
“Col’s response: G’day Toni, clearly you’ll be obliged to carry out the work the way your client insists, and the preferred use of platform ladders, when they are practicable, make sense for lots of reasons.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has a good, overview website page on use of ladders and other similar gear. (The link to that is reproduced at the end of my response.) Needless to say the Regulation reference wont apply with QLD having the WHS regs in operation now, but the general advice is still “on the money”.) You should look through that page. But since you’ve asked, I’ve also set out a few of my thoughts on the topic below.
It’s self evident that for any work involving using both hands, the platform ladder wins over a conventional ladder. The working surface and guard rails makes it much safer, in most circumstances.
I say, “most circumstances” because it’s equally self-evident that the platform ladder only provides one safe working surface. When work has to be done at varying heights things like a “cherry picker” or a scissor lift are good, better options, recognising that sort of gear isn’t always going to be useable.
The platform ladder and the other elevated work platform stuff have one common safety principle: they are essentially engineering solutions for safe work at height. That is, they have inherent design features that provide the safety margin with little contribution by the person using the gear. That’s a good thing obviously. However, an ordinary ladder, used properly and with the right gear and training can be pretty safe too.
Ladders, as a working platform, fall down (pun intended) because they are fundamentally designed for access only, and working from them needs other risk controls to make ‘em effective. However, combine a ladder with harnesses, anchoring systems and, most critically, the skills to use that stuff safely, and for lots of jobs you can work relatively safely off a ladder. Naturally, the skills level and the ability to maintain those skill levels will be super critical.
But watch a skilled arborist at work and it’s clear that with the right gear and the right skills it is possible to work relatively safely at height if you are secured properly. Recognising arborists don’t consider a ladder a practical or safe working platform for a large proportion of their work. And not forgetting that safe, efficient use of the anchoring systems for arborists are integral to the entire job. That integration is not something you can reasonably expect would happen for a worker who is using that gear only occasionally.
All that said, I’d point out that the cost of good gear to secure yourself properly on a ladder, and the cost of training to do it right will start to get close to costs for hiring elevated work platforms; and you’re looking at using a work method that is heavily reliant on the skills of the operator; a thing that is never a good risk control strategy.
To finish off, I’d repeat what I said at the outset: if the client wants you to use platform ladders, then that’s what you’re going to have to try and make work.
Here is that link to the QLD regulator’s website page on use of ladders: http://www.deir.qld.gov.au/workplace/business/construction/majorhazards/ladder/index.htm
Cheers.”
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