WorkSafe targets waste transport risks after eight worker deaths
02 Oct 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
WorkSafe Victoria inspectors will visit waste and recycling transport workplaces from this week, focusing on loading and unloading, vehicle maintenance and load restraint. Eight truck drivers and garbage collectors working in the sector have died at work since 2019.
The inspections will cover known workplaces in the sector. Vehicles rolling away and crashes have been the most common causes of the eight deaths recorded since 2019.
Two workers were crushed between their trucks and brick walls in separate incidents at St Albans in July 2021 and Melbourne’s CBD in June 2023. In another fatal incident, a garbage truck driver was crushed between his truck and a gate while collecting bins at Leongatha South in 2019 because of a faulty parking brake. Waste disposal company Country Cart Pty Ltd was convicted and fined a total of $300,000 in 2022 following that death.
Over the past five years, more than 400 truck drivers and garbage collectors in waste and recycling have suffered injuries serious enough to receive workers compensation. Most injuries involved body stressing, falls, moving objects striking workers or vehicle incidents.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said employers must take every reasonable step to control the distinctive risks of transporting waste. "Workers in the waste transport sector often work in confined conditions with unpredictable loads that can become unstable, while improper maintenance can lead to damaged vehicles, skips, bins and lifting gear – putting workers and others at risk," Mr Jenkin said.
"Sadly, we continue to see serious and sometimes tragic incidents in this sector that could have been prevented, which is why these issues will be a particular focus for our inspectors."
The waste transport inspections form part of WorkSafe’s broader effort to improve heavy vehicle transport safety through targeted workplace visits, compliance and enforcement activity, and industry partnerships.
Victorian employers must do everything they can to protect workers and other people, including the public, from risks associated with mobile workplaces such as garbage trucks. This includes understanding federal laws and the chain of responsibility, which extends responsibility for heavy vehicles on the road beyond drivers.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator recently released a Waste and Recycling Industry Code of Practice to help employers and businesses that generate waste understand their obligations. The code covers common hazards and ways to eliminate or reduce risks.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your business’s approach to workplace health and safety and identify areas that may need closer attention. Take the free WHS self-check