Caravan worker safety in spotlight

The safety of factory workers in the Australian RV industry has been put in the spotlight, with a Melbourne caravan manufacturer found guilty of not complying with WorkSafe Victoria safety improvement notices, and Australia’s leading RV manufacturer starring in a new online safety campaign targetting musculo-skeletal injuries.

Campbellfield-based Empire Caravans has pleaded guilty to six counts of failing to comply with an improvement notice under the Occupational health and Safety Act and was fined $5500 without conviction, and ordered to pay $2000 costs.

The Broadmeadows Magistrates court was told that on September 30, 2009 a WorkSafe inspector attended the company’s Campbellfield factory where eight improvement notices were issued, covering common problems such as housekeeping, unguarded machines and dangerous storage racking.

Nine weeks were allowed for compliance during which time Empire Caravans didn’t seek an extension of time. The inspector returned to Empire’s factory three times before the compliance date and reminded management of the obligation to comply with the notices.

In the end Empire Caravans only complied with two notices - one dealt with machine guarding and the other concerned working from heights - within time and failed to comply with the remainder.

According to WorkSafe’s Ross Pilkington, “Improvement Notices are a legal direction to deal with issues that are typically easily fixed.

"If Improvement Notices are dealt with promptly, the matter generally ends there. If you don’t, along with the risk of someone being hurt, the chance of a prosecution rises quickly," he explained.

"If someone is hurt the personal, commercial and legal consequences for a business or its owners can be considerable."

Meanwhile, another Melbourne RV manufacturer, Jayco is one of three businesses to feature in WorkSafe’s new online safety campaign, called the Skeleton Project, which targets musculo-skeletal injuries.

In an entertaining

eight minute video, Jayco Corporation CEO Neil Coulson dons a fake wig and Groucho Marx-like moustache and under the guise of 'workplace safety research officer, Nathan Bell', quizs three production line workers at the company’s Dandenong factory about the impact of new safety equipment on workers' health.

One worker praises the back-saving benefits of a special trolley that can lift and carry 150kg rolls of floor lino that were previously man-handled by up to three workers, while another endorses a suction lifter used to safely transport heavy caravan walls.

WorkSafe Victoria says that injuries caused by poor manual handling practices, inadequate equipment and slips, trips and falls account for 60 per cent of all Victorian workers compensation claims and cost the community more than $1billion a year in treatment and rehabilitation costs.