Worker run over by forklift

 Whilst not an owner builder site, the following incident highlights the dangers of operating mobile plant at a workplace.

In May 2018, a forklift ran over a worker who was standing in a loading dock where material handling was taking place.

The worked suffered considerable injury to his legs and shoulder and requires intensive rehabilitation.

Owner builders should always consider the movement and proximity of all persons engaged on their site when mobile plant is operating.

Preventing a similar incident

Where mobile plant is in use at your owner builder site it is your responsibility as the Principal Contractor to ensure a traffic management plan is implemented.

Owner builders need to recognise the risk and ensure mitigating defenses such as physical barriers, bollards or railed walkways are installed to separate pedestrians and mobile plant

Owner Builder Must Consider:

• the physical environment, such as lighting, road surfaces, ventilation and weather
  
• traffic destination, flow, volume and priorities
• forklift stopping distances, turning (tail swing) and operator blind spots
• forklift characteristics, such as stability and attachments
• load characteristics, such as height, width and type.
  
  

Owner Builder site traffic management plan should also ensure:

• it is clear to mobile plant operators and workers who has right of way
  
• any no-go zones for plant and equipment or pedestrians are clearly isolated and marked
  
• if high visibility vests are required, they are readily available to staff and visitors
• pedestrian floor markings are highly visible and well signed
  
• speed limits are clearly signed and followed
• traffic directions, such as 'stop' and 'one way', are clearly signed and followed.
  

Statistics

If you think these are isolated events, then as an owner builder consider the following:

Compensation claims for incidents involving forklift alone have exceeded 400 since 2011.

Forty per cent of these involve serious injuries with five or more days off work.

Most common injuries are sprains and strains with the next most common injury being hit by plant or its load.

During the same period, WHS have been notified of 137 incidents involving workers or bystanders being struck by, run over or trapped by plant and equipment. Two of these involved a death and 88 involved a serious injury requiring hospitalisation.

Fines and Prosecution

As the owner builder and Principal Contractor, worksite safety remains your responsibility.

If you fail to ensure your workplace is safe, you may be fined, have civil or criminal proceedings taken against you.

Maintain worksite safety plans, insist on accurate and complete Work Method Statements from your contractors and ensure they work in accordance with same.

This post is certainly not meant to scare our owner builder students, but hopefully it will raise awareness of the hazards and risk associated with the use and operation of mobile plant.

Keep Safe and Happy Owner Building,

Rick

I thought it was a timely reminder to post about ladder safety and Owner Builder responsibilities.

Again recently we have seen yet another serious accident on an owner builder site relating to the misuse of ladders.

Whilst we cover this in depth in our safety topic, I still see inadequate answers that require me to requiz the owner builder in respect to the correct way to set up and use a ladder.

I occasionally have the owner builder student tell me it is not a concern as they are not going to be using a ladder. Those jobs will be undertaken by qualified tradies.

Well, I need to remind everyone, that as an owner builder, you are the Principal Contractor and responsible for the actions of all those engaged on site.

Please take a minute to review the basics of ladder safety.

Look at the angle at which it is set up.

Consider the security of the ladder at top and bottom.

Do you need someone to 'foot' the ladder?

Does it extend high enough past any area you are trying to access?

Are those using the ladder up above the safe limit (rung height)?

All owner builders need to consider these points, observe what your trades are doing and ensure the performance of any activity is in accordance with the relevant Work Method Statement.

To all our owner builder course students, stay safe and,

Happy Owner Building

Rick

Hi everyone,

Are going to make our extension courses available to our Owner Builder Students at incredibly reasonable prices.

All Queensland Owner Builder Students will have the opportunity to complete the following Nationally Accredited Units of Competency from the Cert I in General Construction.

• Plan Reading and Interpretation
• Plan and Organise Work
  
• Basic Estimating and Costing
  

These course are available for $25.00 per unit or $65.00 for all three.

Also, we will offer our Introduction to Project Management for $30.00

Each of these courses will allow our Owner Builder students the opportunity to increase their knowledge in the important Project areas.

For NSW students, we offer the basic introduction to Project Management including the original Owner Builder Generic course for $60.00

Just email us and we can set up your student account and Learner Profile.

Each of these courses will be backed up by our online video tutorials and online owner builder content.

Happy Owner Building

Rick

All students wishing to complete their General Safety Induction Training online as part of their Owner Builder Course, are now required to complete and submit a short video that will be used as evidence to support their competency assessment.

Four items must be covered, being hearing protection, eye protection, high visibility clothing and hard hats.

The videos required to be submitted by our owner builder students need to demonstrate their ability to identify correct use, fitment, storage, care and associated hazards for each piece.

We recommend 4 separate videos each of around 30 seconds and can be taken on your iPhone, iPad or similar and simply emailed or uploaded to your student account via the LMS.

We have produced an information sheet and Learner Guide specific to each piece of equipment, these are available as part of the final assessment process.

Completion of this task also assists owner builder student in demonstrating their competence in the use of technology as required.

Best Regards and Happy Owner Building,

Rick

As an RTO, we continually struggle to make certain our content is relevant to our owner builders.

In doing this, we must also ensure our delivery is consistent and compliant with the specific regulations that apply to Registered Training Organisations.

As a result of our continued need to comply, we more and more shift towards our off LMS content and fact sheets.

Owner Builders past and present will be interested in the following news.

Firstly, we have had to make a modest increase to our pricing for 2018.

NSW Owner Builder Course is now $147.00
QLD Owner Builder Course is now 137.00
Combined with the White Card, both courses are $194.00

These modest increase still make our offerings the best value available.

These increases will allow us to continue our development and the move to have video tutorials for all topics available not later than October this year!

We will introduce the videos each month and will keep everyone updated by these blogs.

In the meanwhile, keep and eye out for my next five posts which will occur through the next week and include information on:

• New White Card Video Submission requirements.
• Owner Builder Topic Videos and webinars
  
• Classroom offerings (Queensland Head Office)
  
• Extension Courses
  
• Student Blog and Forum Use
  
• Student Project Showcase (opportunity to win your course fees back)
  

For now,,

Best Regards and Happy Owner Building