Latest news with #industrialSafety
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Crushed to death, fingers lost: the machines hurting workers
The conveyor belt at a Timaru lumberyard that 23-year-old Ethyn McTier was trapped and killed by in July this year. Photo: Supplied A timber worker is having to relearn how to play the guitar and trumpet - and how to write - after losing two fingers in a machine without a guard. His passion, music, is now bittersweet, he says. A 37-year-old man is dead; seven months into a packing job, asphyxiated after he fell onto a fast-moving conveyor belt. The belt lacked a guard. Graham McKean of the Maritime Union counselled the man's workmates at the factory just days later. "They were distraught," he said. "It was horrific, I just, the feeling in the air, the hair on the back of my neck, the chill that ran down my spine. "Simply because the proper guard had not been put in place." Then there is Ethyn McTier , dead at 23, crushed in an unguarded conveyor belt. Ethyn McTier was crushed by an unguarded conveyor belt. Photo: Supplied These are cases brought to public attention in recent months, where machinery safety failings were only penalised or fixed after the fact. An engineer who gives expert evidence in courts and to inquests after workers are killed or hurt is angry. "Expert witness work mostly makes me angry," Dr Joe Bain said. "Because time after time, after time, we wind up writing reports that highlight that somebody's been seriously injured, if not killed, by a known problem, where there is an existing solution ... that simply hasn't been applied." In eight years giving such testimony, he has yet to come across a tragedy that could not have been averted. It's mostly not malice, he said, but businesses not knowing what "good looks like". But could it be that now a solution to New Zealand's poor and dangerous record with machinery is in sight? The government thinks so. Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has launched a quickfire consultation with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe - to make what "good" looks like clear. "The Health and Safety in Employment 1995 Regulations for machine guarding are out-of-date, incomplete and very prescriptive, requiring very specific protection for woodworking and abrasive grinding machinery," she said in a statement on Thursday. "The review will consult on simplifying these out-of-date rules" and guidance, she said. Make that a "major" rewrite, said the Employers and Manufacturers Association. The EMA joined with ACC last year to come up with a harm reduction plan. "No funding was provided for the implementation of this plan," said ACC, which instead has been seeking companies with good ideas about what to do. ACC, like Worksafe, faces financial strictures limiting or cutting its programmes. That could be financially wrong-footed, when manufacturing injuries are costing ACC $165 million a year and mounting. Business Canterbury's Leeann Watson senses a breakthrough after years of frustration - she and the EMA are among those puzzling over why work on machine safety started then stopped - buoyed by van Velden fronting 100 of her members last year, an unusual move by a minister she believes. "There is no business that I know of that is not wanting to keep their people safe," Watson said. "They just want good clarity and good consistency." Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden is consulting with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Yet the 1995 regulations to be simplified say very little about machine guards; by contrast, the guidance and existing standards amount to over 1000 pages. Yet it leaves out "the useful bit", Bain said. What is that? Simple European standards, complete with pictures, called Type Cs, that show how to keep most of the most commonly used machines safe - "all the work has been done". Bain (who declared to RNZ his involvement with the Labour Party) told van Velden about Type Cs at her roadshow on overall work safety reform in Napier last year. "I've told her. "Anybody who knows me is sick of hearing me talk about Type C standards" - he wrote about them in Safeguard magazine in January - "Pretty much, they nod their heads and go, 'Yeah, that makes sense'. "Whether it's come through as clearly from other contributors to the roadshows, I don't know." As it turns out, not so much. An initial summary of roadshow submissions alluded to it. But a summary out on Wednesday of all the submissions - including written ones covering over a thousand people - left it out. This later summary only mentions machinery and guards once. It is, in fact, seven pages shorter than the 46-page summary that covers only the roadshow. Mike Cosman is nervous at what the minister is saying. "Yesterday it was scaffolding. Today it's guarding and the messaging seems to be the same, which is lowering standards, which means making it cheaper." The consultant, a veteran of previous government workplace safety reviews, helped submit to the roadshow on behalf of a thousand members of the Institute of Safety Management. "The approach that we take is already risk based. It's all based on the concept of doing what's reasonably practicable in the circumstances. "And anything that undermines that fundamental approach, which has been around now for 50 years, I think is dangerous." At the same time, he acknowledged the way the rules should be implemented needed to be clearer. The Maritime Union's Graham McKean voiced similar worries. Bain was clear on the problem and the solution. "Generally speaking, that's not as a result of malice," he said of harm to workers, "it's as a result of businesses not having enough information made available to them. Not having a clear idea of what good looks like." Import Type Cs tomorrow and give them to businesses for free, was his message to the government. There is no sign of that happening. "There are many standards referenced across the health and safety at work regulations; it is not standard practice for government to pay for accessing these," van Velden told RNZ. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Timber worker re-learning how to write, play guitar after losing two fingers in machine
The conveyor belt at a Timaru lumberyard that 23-year-old Ethyn McTier was trapped and killed by in July this year. Photo: Supplied A timber worker is having to relearn how to play the guitar and trumpet - and how to write - after losing two fingers in a machine without a guard. His passion, music, is now bittersweet, he says. A 37-year-old man is dead; seven months into a packing job, asphyxiated after he fell onto a fast-moving conveyor belt. The belt lacked a guard. Graham McKean of the Maritime Union counselled the man's workmates at the factory just days later. "They were distraught," he said. "It was horrific, I just, the feeling in the air, the hair on the back of my neck, the chill that ran down my spine. "Simply because the proper guard had not been put in place." Then there is Ethyn McTier , dead at 23, crushed in an unguarded conveyor belt. Ethyn McTier was crushed by an unguarded conveyor belt. Photo: Supplied These are cases brought to public attention in recent months, where machinery safety failings were only penalised or fixed after the fact. An engineer who gives expert evidence in courts and to inquests after workers are killed or hurt is angry. "Expert witness work mostly makes me angry," Dr Joe Bain said. "Because time after time, after time, we wind up writing reports that highlight that somebody's been seriously injured, if not killed, by a known problem, where there is an existing solution ... that simply hasn't been applied." In eight years giving such testimony, he has yet to come across a tragedy that could not have been averted. It's mostly not malice, he said, but businesses not knowing what "good looks like". But could it be that now a solution to New Zealand's poor and dangerous record with machinery is in sight? The government thinks so. Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has launched a quickfire consultation with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe - to make what "good" looks like clear. "The Health and Safety in Employment 1995 Regulations for machine guarding are out-of-date, incomplete and very prescriptive, requiring very specific protection for woodworking and abrasive grinding machinery," she said in a statement on Thursday. "The review will consult on simplifying these out-of-date rules" and guidance, she said. Make that a "major" rewrite, said the Employers and Manufacturers Association. The EMA joined with ACC last year to come up with a harm reduction plan. "No funding was provided for the implementation of this plan," said ACC, which instead has been seeking companies with good ideas about what to do. ACC, like Worksafe, faces financial strictures limiting or cutting its programmes. That could be financially wrong-footed, when manufacturing injuries are costing ACC $165 million a year and mounting. Business Canterbury's Leeann Watson senses a breakthrough after years of frustration - she and the EMA are among those puzzling over why work on machine safety started then stopped - buoyed by van Velden fronting 100 of her members last year, an unusual move by a minister she believes. "There is no business that I know of that is not wanting to keep their people safe," Watson said. "They just want good clarity and good consistency." Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden is consulting with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Yet the 1995 regulations to be simplified say very little about machine guards; by contrast, the guidance and existing standards amount to over 1000 pages. Yet it leaves out "the useful bit", Bain said. What is that? Simple European standards, complete with pictures, called Type Cs, that show how to keep most of the most commonly used machines safe - "all the work has been done". Bain (who declared to RNZ his involvement with the Labour Party) told van Velden about Type Cs at her roadshow on overall work safety reform in Napier last year. "I've told her. "Anybody who knows me is sick of hearing me talk about Type C standards" - he wrote about them in Safeguard magazine in January - "Pretty much, they nod their heads and go, 'Yeah, that makes sense'. "Whether it's come through as clearly from other contributors to the roadshows, I don't know." As it turns out, not so much. An initial summary of roadshow submissions alluded to it. But a summary out on Wednesday of all the submissions - including written ones covering over a thousand people - left it out. This later summary only mentions machinery and guards once. It is, in fact, seven pages shorter than the 46-page summary that covers only the roadshow. Mike Cosman is nervous at what the minister is saying. "Yesterday it was scaffolding. Today it's guarding and the messaging seems to be the same, which is lowering standards, which means making it cheaper." The consultant, a veteran of previous government workplace safety reviews, helped submit to the roadshow on behalf of a thousand members of the Institute of Safety Management. "The approach that we take is already risk based. It's all based on the concept of doing what's reasonably practicable in the circumstances. "And anything that undermines that fundamental approach, which has been around now for 50 years, I think is dangerous." At the same time, he acknowledged the way the rules should be implemented needed to be clearer. The Maritime Union's Graham McKean voiced similar worries. Bain was clear on the problem and the solution. "Generally speaking, that's not as a result of malice," he said of harm to workers, "it's as a result of businesses not having enough information made available to them. Not having a clear idea of what good looks like." Import Type Cs tomorrow and give them to businesses for free, was his message to the government. There is no sign of that happening. "There are many standards referenced across the health and safety at work regulations; it is not standard practice for government to pay for accessing these," van Velden told RNZ. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Timber worker learning how to write, play guitar after losing two fingers in machine
The conveyor belt at a Timaru lumberyard that 23-year-old Ethyn McTier was trapped and killed by in July this year. Photo: Supplied A timber worker is having to relearn how to play the guitar and trumpet - and how to write - after losing two fingers in a machine without a guard. His passion, music, is now bittersweet, he says. A 37-year-old man is dead; seven months into a packing job, asphyxiated after he fell onto a fast-moving conveyor belt. The belt lacked a guard. Graham McKean of the Maritime Union counselled the man's workmates at the factory just days later. "They were distraught," he said. "It was horrific, I just, the feeling in the air, the hair on the back of my neck, the chill that ran down my spine. "Simply because the proper guard had not been put in place." Then there is Ethyn McTier , dead at 23, crushed in an unguarded conveyor belt. Ethyn McTier was crushed by an unguarded conveyor belt. Photo: Supplied These are cases brought to public attention in recent months, where machinery safety failings were only penalised or fixed after the fact. An engineer who gives expert evidence in courts and to inquests after workers are killed or hurt is angry. "Expert witness work mostly makes me angry," Dr Joe Bain said. "Because time after time, after time, we wind up writing reports that highlight that somebody's been seriously injured, if not killed, by a known problem, where there is an existing solution ... that simply hasn't been applied." In eight years giving such testimony, he has yet to come across a tragedy that could not have been averted. It's mostly not malice, he said, but businesses not knowing what "good looks like". But could it be that now a solution to New Zealand's poor and dangerous record with machinery is in sight? The government thinks so. Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has launched a quickfire consultation with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe - to make what "good" looks like clear. "The Health and Safety in Employment 1995 Regulations for machine guarding are out-of-date, incomplete and very prescriptive, requiring very specific protection for woodworking and abrasive grinding machinery," she said in a statement on Thursday. "The review will consult on simplifying these out-of-date rules" and guidance, she said. Make that a "major" rewrite, said the Employers and Manufacturers Association. The EMA joined with ACC last year to come up with a harm reduction plan. "No funding was provided for the implementation of this plan," said ACC, which instead has been seeking companies with good ideas about what to do. ACC, like Worksafe, faces financial strictures limiting or cutting its programmes. That could be financially wrong-footed, when manufacturing injuries are costing ACC $165 million a year and mounting. Business Canterbury's Leeann Watson senses a breakthrough after years of frustration - she and the EMA are among those puzzling over why work on machine safety started then stopped - buoyed by van Velden fronting 100 of her members last year, an unusual move by a minister she believes. "There is no business that I know of that is not wanting to keep their people safe," Watson said. "They just want good clarity and good consistency." Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden is consulting with factories aiming to simplify rules around keeping machines safe. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Yet the 1995 regulations to be simplified say very little about machine guards; by contrast, the guidance and existing standards amount to over 1000 pages. Yet it leaves out "the useful bit", Bain said. What is that? Simple European standards, complete with pictures, called Type Cs, that show how to keep most of the most commonly used machines safe - "all the work has been done". Bain (who declared to RNZ his involvement with the Labour Party) told van Velden about Type Cs at her roadshow on overall work safety reform in Napier last year. "I've told her. "Anybody who knows me is sick of hearing me talk about Type C standards" - he wrote about them in Safeguard magazine in January - "Pretty much, they nod their heads and go, 'Yeah, that makes sense'. "Whether it's come through as clearly from other contributors to the roadshows, I don't know." As it turns out, not so much. An initial summary of roadshow submissions alluded to it. But a summary out on Wednesday of all the submissions - including written ones covering over a thousand people - left it out. This later summary only mentions machinery and guards once. It is, in fact, seven pages shorter than the 46-page summary that covers only the roadshow. Mike Cosman is nervous at what the minister is saying. "Yesterday it was scaffolding. Today it's guarding and the messaging seems to be the same, which is lowering standards, which means making it cheaper." The consultant, a veteran of previous government workplace safety reviews, helped submit to the roadshow on behalf of a thousand members of the Institute of Safety Management. "The approach that we take is already risk based. It's all based on the concept of doing what's reasonably practicable in the circumstances. "And anything that undermines that fundamental approach, which has been around now for 50 years, I think is dangerous." At the same time, he acknowledged the way the rules should be implemented needed to be clearer. The Maritime Union's Graham McKean voiced similar worries. Bain was clear on the problem and the solution. "Generally speaking, that's not as a result of malice," he said of harm to workers, "it's as a result of businesses not having enough information made available to them. Not having a clear idea of what good looks like." Import Type Cs tomorrow and give them to businesses for free, was his message to the government. There is no sign of that happening. "There are many standards referenced across the health and safety at work regulations; it is not standard practice for government to pay for accessing these," van Velden told RNZ. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Times of Oman
01-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Sohar Emergency Response Organisation inaugurated
Muscat: Under the patronage of Eng. Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communication, and Information Technology, Sohar Port and Freezone hosted the inauguration ceremony of the Sohar Emergency Response Organisation, a milestone that redefines industrial safety and resilience in Oman. The Sohar Emergency Response Organisation is a fully integrated initiative, jointly established by Sohar Port and Freezone in close partnership with its tenant community. Designed to serve all stakeholders, from employees and contractors to port users and visitors ,this model represents a unified, community-wide approach to emergency preparedness. Its collective nature is what sets it apart as a first-of-its-kind initiative in the region. Ensuring the safety of people and the protection of valuable assets are fundamental principles at Sohar. The Emergency Response Organisation enhances risk mitigation, safeguards facilities, and ensures business continuity, directly supporting Sohar's mission to be a reliable, safe, and sustainable industrial hub. Eng. Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communication, and Information Technology, emphasized the broader significance of this achievement: 'The Sohar Emergency Response Organisation represents a critical step in aligning with Oman's vision for resilience and sustainability. By enhancing safety standards and ensuring operational continuity, it supports not only Sohar's growth but also Oman's strategic objectives in the logistics sector.' 'This is not just a facility, it is a strategic outcome of collaboration,' said Abdullah Al Jabri, Chairman of the Board of SoharPort and Freezone. 'Together with our tenants, we have built a shared resource that protects the entire Sohar ecosystem. This unified model reflects our collective responsibility toward safety, operational excellence, and long-term resilience.' Operating 24/7 and equipped with advanced technologies, the center provides rapid response to a wide range of emergency scenarios, from medical incidents and industrial fires to hazardous materials and technical rescues. Developed in collaboration with international experts such as the Safety Authority Rotterdam, and operated by Unity Fire and Safety Services LLC, the facility aligns with the best global practices adapted to the local context. The inauguration of the Sohar Emergency Response Organisation sets a new regional benchmark in industrial safety, not only for its operational capability, but for its ability to unite diverse stakeholders under one mission: protecting the entire Sohar community through collective action.
Zawya
01-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Sohar Port and Freezone inaugurates one of a kind Sohar Emergency Response Organization
Suhar – Under the patronage of H.E. Eng. Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communication, and Information Technology, SOHAR Port and Freezone hosted the inauguration ceremony of the SOHAR Emergency Response Organization, a milestone that redefines industrial safety and resilience in Oman. The SOHAR Emergency Response Organization is a fully integrated initiative, jointly established by SOHAR Port and Freezone in close partnership with its tenant community. Designed to serve all stakeholders, from employees and contractors to port users and visitors ,this model represents a unified, community-wide approach to emergency preparedness. Its collective nature is what sets it apart as a first-of-its-kind initiative in the region. Ensuring the safety of people and the protection of valuable assets are fundamental principles at SOHAR. The Emergency Response Organization enhances risk mitigation, safeguards facilities, and ensures business continuity, directly supporting SOHAR's mission to be a reliable, safe, and sustainable industrial hub. H.E. Eng. Saeed bin Hamoud bin Saeed Al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communication, and Information Technology, emphasized the broader significance of this achievement: 'The SOHAR Emergency Response Organization represents a critical step in aligning with Oman's vision for resilience and sustainability. By enhancing safety standards and ensuring operational continuity, it supports not only SOHAR's growth but also Oman's strategic objectives in the logistics sector.' 'This is not just a facility, it is a strategic outcome of collaboration,' said Abdullah Al Jabri, Chairman of the Board of SOHAR Port and Freezone. ' Together with our tenants, we have built a shared resource that protects the entire SOHAR ecosystem. This unified model reflects our collective responsibility toward safety, operational excellence, and long-term resilience.' Operating 24/7 and equipped with advanced technologies, the center provides rapid response to a wide range of emergency scenarios, from medical incidents and industrial fires to hazardous materials and technical rescues. Developed in collaboration with international experts such as the Safety Authority Rotterdam, and operated by Unity Fire and Safety Services LLC, the facility aligns with the best global practices adapted to the local context. The inauguration of the SOHAR Emergency Response Organization sets a new regional benchmark in industrial safety, not only for its operational capability, but for its ability to unite diverse stakeholders under one mission: protecting the entire SOHAR community through collective action. About SOHAR Port and Freezone As one of the fastest-growing ports in the world, SOHAR Port and Freezone continues to leverage on its strategic location and enhance its services, positioning itself as a key logistics hub within the region and across the world boasting container, liquids, and bulk terminals. A powerful combination of the expertise of the Port of Rotterdam and ASYAD Group, it is earmarked as one of the Sultanate's mega-projects, home to logistics, petrochemicals, and metal clusters, as well as the region's first dedicated agri terminal. Today, after 20 years of operation, it serves as the main gateway for import and export in Oman, directly contributing 2.1% of the country's GDP and almost 42,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities. With a focus on sustainable development and cutting-edge technology, it is leading the development and modernization of the Sultanate's logistics infrastructure and supporting the economic diversification objectives of Oman's 2040 Vision. For more information about SOHAR Port and Freezone, please visit
